The Hurt Remains
by Roseblade22
Summary: FINALLY UPDATED! Book 2, Ep."The Chase." What would have happened if Azula had struck down Zuko instead of Iroh? Now, an injured and frustrated Zuko is forced by his uncle to hide from his sister with the Avatar and his friends. Zutara in later chapters.
1. The First Day

Disclaimer: I own nothing except for my plot and any original characters I introduce.

**Author's Note:** Thank you for checking out this story. I hope you enjoy.

**Summary:** Book 2: Earth. At the end of the episode "The Chase," Zuko is struck down by Azula instead of Iroh. Now, the injured and frustrated firebender is forced by his uncle to hide from his sister with the Avatar and his friends, and to endure daily healing sessions with Katara. Zutara all the way!

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"Well, look at this. Enemies and traitors all working together." Azula purred darkly. Her dagger-like eyes darted between the six figures moving in unison to pin her down, like an insect in an exhibit. They were all fools. She was more clever than that. She had a plan.

Zuko held fast his firebending stance as he watched Azula. She backed towards the remains of an abandoned Earth Kingdom building, helpless. Powerful and dangerous as she was, even Azula couldn't stand a chance against Zuko, his uncle, and the Avatar's motley little crew. Working together.

Zuko frowned inwardly. He didn't like to be reduced to having to team up with his enemy in order to defeat a member of his own family. But it was either her, or she could capture the Avatar before he had a chance. Now Azula was trapped, like a dangerous animal in a cage. She was bound to strike. Zuko didn't take his eyes from her.

But then Azula did something Zuko didn't expect. She released herself from her fighting stance and raised her arms, acknowledging her defeat.

"I'm done." She admitted with a scowl. "I know when I'm beaten. You got me. A princess surrenders with honor."

Zuko smirked at that last bit. He averted his eyes briefly to glance at his uncle, to share his victorious smile with him. But Iroh didn't move a muscle, or even blink. Zuko turned back to Azula just in time to see an evil, malicious smile grace her lips. He barely had time to wonder what she was so pleased about when he heard the sound.

It nearly split his eardrums, it was so loud. A flash of blue light, and then—pain! Zuko felt the enormous energy of Azula's blast strike his chest, blackening and cracking the flesh. The electric current viciously tore through his body, and he felt himself falling. When his back violently collided with the hard, dust-covered earth, he continued falling.

The numbness set in quickly, as did the blindness. For a brief moment, Zuko could only hear the chaos unfolding around him:

"Oh my gosh! What did she do!? Why would she do that?"

"Is he dead? Katara! Do something!!"

"He's burnt! Oh…oh, I can't feel his heartbeat anywhere…Aang! Get me some water from somewhere!"

"Hurry up! He's dying! I can feel it!"

"Oh no…Zuko…hold on…"

Then the dark oblivion took hold over him. He gave in, unable to resist against it. Everything went black. Zuko was lost.

* * *

Zuko spent a long time unaware of where he was. His dark prison held him selfishly, and when he felt life tugging back at him again, he wished he'd stayed in that infinite blackness.

The pain came first, before sight, movement, or anything else. It coursed through him, as if it had replaced all the blood in his body. The epicenter of the pain was his chest, his heart. He could feel it beating weakly inside him. Every thump from the aching muscle was torture, and he felt like screaming, but couldn't.

Zuko was unaware of time, but after what seemed like years, he was aware of sounds as well as the pain. They came like nightmares. Aching, pain-filled moans plagued his ears. He was frightened by them. It took a while for Zuko to realize that those sounds were actually coming from him. Each time his heart lurched in an attempt to keep him alive, another red wave of pain washed through him, more intense than the one before, and he felt his throat tearing from his screams.

Every pain-filled breath filled him with more life and brought him closer to the surface.

Every once in a while, Zuko discovered, his pain subsided to give way to a new sensation. Coolness would spread through his body, replacing the hot-blooded, painful feeling coursing through him. This feeling was peculiar to him—it was unrecognizable, like he had suddenly been thrust into a cool river.

Then as fast as this peculiar feeling arrived, it was gone. The pain returned, but each time was a little more bearable, and Zuko's head felt clearer.

Zuko awoke one day during one of these cooling sessions. He had suddenly become aware of not only pain, but acute sensations—and what he felt was to hands pressing down on his chest. His eyes snapped open and locked with two blue pools of sympathy and surprise.

The waterbending girl was leaning above him, her mouth open, her tongue unable to formulate words for a moment. It was _she_ who was touching him and creating that cooling sensation. He glanced downward towards his chest, and to his surprise found that her hands were emanating some sort of spiritual, bluish-white glow.

"Zuko?" The girl asked, her voice laced delicately with concern.

The firebender whispered harshly through clenched teeth, resisting his pain. "Get…away…from me…waterbender."

He attempted to rise, maybe even attack, but his own weight and gravity were his greatest enemies. Another scream wrenched his throat, and he dropped back to the earth, gasping and writhing. The waterbender girl attempted to calm him, but her shouts fell on deaf ears.

"Zuko! ZUKO! Listen to me! I'm trying to help you! Stop struggling!"

Clever witch, trying to cast water-spells on him with her craft. He wouldn't let her. Where was Uncle? Had the Avatar and his group taken him hostage too? Zuko furled and unfurled, clenched and unclenched. His battered body failed him. The pain in his chest was on fire now.

Suddenly Zuko felt the very rock beneath his body shift, and suddenly he was fixed to one spot. Pressure around his arms and legs told him that he was being restrained by—something. His yellow eyes darted around the room—was it a room? His vision was blurry from the pain. He managed to see what was holding him down: rocks molded into cuffs, carved from the very earth. Zuko looked up to see a second figure enter. This one was small, clad in greens and yellows. An earthbender. So the Avatar was quickly gaining new friends. Zuko screamed and attempted to free himself, but his struggles only caused his pain to increase. The waterbender continued to try and talk to him.

"Zuko! Please—you're hurting yourself! Toph!"

A second voice, belonging to the tiny earthbender: "I pinned him, he's just squirming. Should I get Iroh?"

Zuko's head snapped up, his fiery eyes burning into the flesh of the earthbending witch. "What have you done with my uncle!?!" he roared, biting back his pain.

More figures flooded the room; these Zuko recognized. The water tribe boy, the Avatar. Then, the most welcoming face entered—his uncle. Zuko screamed at him.

"Uncle!! Uncle...what are they doing to me?! What is going on? Why are you with them?"

Iroh kneeled at the side of his nephew, his face a picture of concern, and the waterbender backed away. Zuko finally fell silent when he felt his uncle's voice resonate within the small space.

"Stop fighting, Prince Zuko." The old man's voice was rough and stony, but calming. "You are injured. They are trying to help you."

Zuko gasped in pain and disbelief. "Why would they help me!?" His voice was unnecessarily loud, from him having to force out the words.

The tiny earthbending girl piped in. "Because he asked us to! Why else would we have helped you?"

"I would have helped him, even if Iroh hadn't have asked!" The waterbending girl cut in, her voice still concerned. "If I hadn't, he would have died. Why are you guys still completely insensitive to that?"

"Sorry…" the earthbender's boldness weakened like a crumbling wall.

"Zuko," Iroh whispered through tight lips. "Don't fight them. Katara is right. You would have died days ago had she not helped you. She's been healing you for days now."

The young firebender furrowed his brow and groaned; those surrounding him found it hard to tell if his display was caused by pain or anger. Maybe it was a combination of both.

"You must allow Katara to finish the healing. You will feel much better after that." Zuko listened to his uncle's words reluctantly.

Zuko shifted, and a new ripple of hurt took hold over his body. He screamed into his mouth, but bit his lip and refused to let the sound exit. Then he turned on his uncle.

"How can you be in league with these people!?" Zuko cried.

Iroh's lips closed, forming a thin red line. His eyes cast a disappointed look upon his nephew. Then he stood up and turned away, gesturing for the others to follow. The water tribe boy threw Zuko a disgusted look before he disappeared through the doorway. The young Avatar looked down on the Prince with sympathy, and left as well. The earthbender, however, insisted on staying.

"I better stay here to make sure he doesn't start thrashing around again," she explained.

The former General Iroh exited last, but not before looking back at his helpless nephew. Zuko could see the hurt the old man had endured in his eyes. It made him wonder how long the situation had been like this.

Now Zuko was alone with the earth and waterbending girls. How he hated this, but he was pinned. He had no choice.

The waterbender lowered herself once more, reaching her bewitching hands towards him again. She had two bowls of water beside her; Zuko could see the liquid in one of them was stained dark. It was red. Suddenly he knew the source of his pain.

Azula. She had struck him with her specialty attack. Lightening. Now he remembered the cracking boom, the flash, and the sudden burning pain.

Zuko felt fingers upon him once again, and looked up to see the waterbender drawing her element from the cleaner bowl. The clear liquid swirled around her digits and palms, causing the eerie blue glow he'd seen earlier. Before she touched him again, she glanced once more at his face.

Her face was marred with unease. Zuko got the feeling that she wasn't comfortable touching him while he was awake and aware of it.

"Why don't you just finish your witchcraft and get out of my sight, waterbender."

The waterbender looked hurt, and slightly annoyed. "You know, I'm only trying to relieve you of your pain. The least you could do is be grateful."

Zuko laughed hoarsely though dry throat. "I'll be gracious, waterbender, when I get out of this. I won't kill you and your brother instantly." He spat out the words like curses, then cried out as the pressure around his legs and arms worsened, causing him even more pain. He whipped his head around to stare at the small earthbending girl.

She smirked, and for the first time Zuko noticed that she was blind. "Better behave, your Royal Highness," she said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "Or I'll have to do something worse than restrain you with my earthbending."

Zuko was struck speechless. Did the earthbender know that he used to be royalty? He'd never seen her before, and of that he was certain. What sort of information was his uncle dishing out to these people? Suddenly, he felt the waterbending girl touch him again, and he looked back at her. She didn't return his heated glaring—she was too concentrated on her glowing hands.

The cool feeling began to spread out from her fingers. Zuko felt it wind within his insides, filling him up. He didn't struggle this time, because what the girl had said was true. This did relieve his pain. Slowly, he allowed his head to drop back onto the ground, and he began to realize how terribly exhausted he was.

The coolness sank into his bones, forcing him to relax. Zuko hated it. It made him tired. His eyes were heavy-lidded…his head filled...

* * *

Katara sighed when she saw Zuko's eyes close and breathing deepen. Knowing that he wasn't conscious to her touch made her feel much less uncomfortable about healing him. She glanced down at his face, and was mildly surprised to find an expression of peace upon him. She wasn't used to seeing him without a face full of rage and anger.

"Did he fall asleep?" Toph asked, more for the sake of conversation than for actual inquiry.

Katara looked up at the blind earthbender and smiled. "Yeah, thank goodness. He is certainly a handful."

Toph replied by pressing her lips together and blowing out air between them, making an impolite sound. "Maybe for you people. I can handle him easily."

"You've never seen him awake."

"I just did."

"I mean, awake and uninjured. He's actually quite dangerous."

"How do you figure?"

Katara moved her palms across Zuko's torso slowly, sensing his chakra and chi. She glanced back up at Toph. "He's capture Aang and I a couple of times. And I fought him at the North Pole. He's not so easy to take down as you might think."

"Whatever." The earthbender curled herself up into a small green ball, curling her toes into the dirt. She waited and listened to the vibrations the earth and rocky walls around her. Katara's energy was pulsing throughout the room, pumping it into the young firebender's body and attempting to heal it. Toph found it interesting—Katara's ability to heal. The vibrations it made were different from most she felt, though Toph couldn't place exactly how they were different.

Shortly afterward Katara finished the healing session. Toph felt her retract her hands and stand up slowly. Toph followed suit, and the two girls exited the room, leaving a still-pinned-down Zuko sleeping on the floor.

The other three were gathered silently around a small campfire. Sokka had found this small hidden town, carved carefully into the side of a rocky cliff, and he wanted very badly to keep it that way. Any light, he had said, could alert the three Fire Nation girls of their position. And with an injured person on their hands, their chances of escape were slim.

"How is my nephew?" Iroh asked immediately after the girls had sat down.

"He's angry," Toph offered.

Sokka bit into a piece of meat. "That's no surprise."

Katara shot her brother a disapproving look, then turned to the old man. "He fell asleep when I continued the healing. I think in a day or two he might be able to get up and start moving around."

Aang, who had remained silent until now, piped in. "Do you think actually letting him move around is a good idea? I mean…you know…until he…" His meek voice trailed off as he looked towards the Fire Nation general.

Iroh nodded in understanding. "I know why you are wary of my nephew, Aang." He'd gotten to know all of the young people on a first-name basis over the last few days. "He has made some bad choices in his life. I am sorry they had to involve you, but I am grateful that you and your friends have offered your help."

Katara smiled sadly. "I'm happy to help."

"I thank you." Iroh replied.

The five of them sat silently in the firelight, watching the shadows dance in circles around them. Eventually they one by one peeled off from the group and crawled into place to sleep. Iroh was the last to succumb to the night. He liked to stay up and worry and watch, even though he knew it wasn't good for him, not at his age.

Zuko remained on the stone floor within the small room. His sleep was shallow, his dreams plagued with thoughts of darkness and anger and confusion.

In the morning this dance between them all would begin again.

* * *

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Yay! Only one chapter and already so far into the story! Please read and REVIEW!! Thanks for reading.

Roseblade22


	2. Shreds of Humanity

Disclaimer: I own nothing, and I have about 2 cents to my name, so don't sue me.

**Author's Note:** I'm very pleased with the progress of this story! It seems to be successful so far…11 reviews for the first chapter is actually very good—I'm surprised, I didn't expect so much feedback. Thanks to my reviewers for making my day! Scroll down to the bottom of the page for personalized reviewer responses! Thanks my lovelies!

Here is the second chapter! Enjoy!

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The next morning Katara was apprehensive about entering the room where Zuko was kept. She wasn't sure if she was actually afraid of him or if something else was nagging at her subconscious. She stood outside the door silently, her delicate fingers smoothing her braids, and a pinching, worried look on her face. Once, she worked up the courage to reach forward and brush her fingertips lightly against the ancient grains of wood of the door, but a sudden twisting in her guts forced her to draw back.

_What am I nervous about? _She asked herself. _Is it because I have to…well, touch him, in order to heal him?_ She considered it, but then brushed the ridiculous thought away. Out of the corner of her eye, Katara spied Toph approaching, and the waterbender quickly changed her posture to make it look as if she hadn't been there stalling this whole time. Then, a brilliant thought occurred to her.

"Toph?" She asked as the earthbender brushed by. "Will you go with me to heal Zuko? I'm kind of nervous about being alone with him, even if he is restrained."

The small girl turned towards the waterbender and frowned. "Are you serious?" She whined. "There's no way he can get free. My rock-cuffs are solid." She clenched her small fists and shook them in front of her to emphasize.

Katara reached out and grabbed the earthbender by the sleeve before she could turn away. "Please, Toph?" She asked gently, trying hard not to sound too desperate.

"Fine," relented Toph with a sigh and a scowl. "Gosh, when I joined your group I never imagined I would have to baby sit you guys."

"It's just to make sure that Zuko doesn't hurt himself or anyone else." Katara explained.

Toph rolled her blank eyes. "Whatever."

The two girls entered. When Katara swung open the door she was surprised to discover that Zuko was wide awake, staring angrily at the stony ceiling. She had expected that the only reason he could be so quiet was because he was still asleep. His amber eyes darted towards them when he heard their light footsteps.

"Morning, your Royal Highness!" Toph greeted cheerfully, earning herself a snarl from the Fire Nation Prince. She plopped herself down against the wall on the opposite side of the room from the boy.

Katara hesitated, then moved forward and kneeled beside Zuko, delicately shifting her robe so that it wouldn't collect dust. She felt the firebender turn his eyes upon her—she could feel the heat of his gaze. She didn't respond, but instead began to bend the water from her waterskin into one of the bowls beside her. Then, placing her hands into the bowl, she began to concentrate her energy.

Zuko watched the waterbending girl intently as she began preparing for the healing without a single word. She seemed nervous; he could see it in her face. She held all her tenseness in her lips and mouth, this one. Zuko could see the corners of her lips turned downward at too sharp and angle, and they were pressed together tightly, making her entire face seem pinched together. It was a little bit fascinating to him, knowing how mouths and lips would betray their owner's orders and express the innermost emotions. However, the girl had been concentrating for a few minutes now, and his fascination was quickly overrun by his impatience.

"Is there are problem, Waterbender?" He inquired with an edge of spitefulness in his voice.

Katara cast the firebender an annoyed glance. "I have a name, you know. It's Katara. Next time you have something to say to me, you can address me properly."

"I'll address you exactly as I wish—_Waterbender._" Zuko sneered.

"You know, for a prince, you're not very gentlemanlike," injected Toph.

Katara smiled at the irony, while Zuko whipped around to face the earthbender. "And I suppose you know all about what constitutes a gentleman, Earthbender?"

"As a matter of fact I do." Toph replied. "My family's practically royalty where I come from."

"Liar. You have no idea."

Katara finally took her hands from the bowl and stood up. "Alright! Stop!" She shouted. "Toph, you are not to talk to Zuko. Zuko, you are not to talk to Toph. I can't concentrate with you guys bickering!"

Neither one of the two benders said anything in reply; however, at least they both closed their mouths. Katara sighed, lowered back down, and began to meditate. She placed her hands delicately into the bowl full of cool water, and concentrated her sending her energy out of her body and into the palms of her hands. Tingling sensations pricked at her fingertips, and then she felt the energy flowing through her and into the water. She slowly lifted them from the bowl, and then glanced down at Zuko.

"This will feel cold at first, but you'll be relaxed in a moment." She didn't know why she felt the need to warn him, and doing it only earned her yet another scowl.

Katara then paused, her hands floating in front of her, her eyes fixed on the angry-looking wound in the center of the firebender's chest. She didn't know why, but while Zuko had been unconscious, it seemed the only part of him that she needed to really pay any attention. Now that he was awake, it suddenly occurred to her that not only the wound was there, but everything attached to it. Beneath the large star-shaped burn was a smooth layer of skin, and beneath that the former Fire Nation Prince boasted well-developed muscles for his age.

_Well, at least compared to Sokka…_Katara thought with amusement. She really had no other comparison besides her brother and Aang--they were the only boys she'd seen, well--shirtless. Before now, at least. Katara began to feel a dryness parch her throat, and a familiar anxious feeling fill her up again. She closed her eyes for a moment and took two deep breaths. When she opened them, her hands were ready. She turned towards the former Fire Nation Prince

She noted Zuko's eyes narrowing in impatience once more when she hesitated, and she became frustrated with her reactions towards the firebender.Why was she so nervous about touching Zuko?

_Come on, Katara…_she urged herself silently._ He can't hurt you, he can't do anything._

That wasn't it. Was she anxious about healing Zuko simply because she didn't feel comfortable about feeling around a teenage boy's chest?

_No…_Katara thought. _I mean, come on…it's Zuko…_

But it was true. Katara had never healed—or touched—any boy her age before, other than Sokka and maybe Aang, at least not when he was topless. This was awkward to say the least. She was self-conscious about whether Zuko thought it strange as well, but so far he hadn't shown any signs.

"Tell me…tell me if anything hurts." She stuttered, and then forced herself to place her palms down on Zuko's chest. The firebender's lips twitched and he groaned unpleasently, but then dropped his head, as if submitting to her touch.

"Just do what you have to." He said, this time sounding more miserable than angry.

Katara nodded unconsciously, coaxing more water from the bowl and sending it sliding across Zuko's skin. She felt her chi enter his wound, and then enter his system. It flowed through his body smoothly, relaxing his limbs and repairing the torn and burnt flesh—then, something…blocked it.

"Hm?" Katara mumbled to herself, puzzled by this sudden change. She'd never felt this before.

Something inside of Zuko was keeping her energy out. Not only that, Katara could feel that it was blocking Zuko's energy from reaching the rest of his body as well. This hadn't happened while he was unconscious! She looked worriedly at the face of the battered Prince, who was staring desolately at the ceiling again. Feeling her gaze on him, he lifted his head.

"What is it now?" He asked edgily.

Katara retracted her hands and nervously entwined her fingers. "Zuko, what do you know about chakras?"

The firebender looked rather surprised by the question. "There are seven." He said, void of emotion. He'd learned about energy and its paths through the body extensively as a boy. Then he glanced at the waterbender restlessly. "Why?"

"Can you tell me which chakra…" She gestured hesitantly with her hand. "…is right here." Katara lightly brushed the skin just over Zuko's heart with a shaky hand.

_Gosh, this is weird…touching Zuko like this. _She thought. Luckily for Katara, Zuko didn't seem to notice the awkwardness between them.

"Um…" Zuko searched his mind, recollecting his days in school at the Fire Academy. "Fourth chakra, located in the heart. It deals with love and grief." Then he turned his eyes on the waterbender. "Why? I'm not going to ask you a third time!"

Katara bit her lip. She was willing to bet a million gold pieces that Zuko wasn't going to like what she was about to tell him, but if she withheld information from him it would take Toph a lot more than simple rock-cuffs to cage his fury and impatience.

"I think it's blocked." She admitted. "Azula's blast must have stopped the energy flow."

"What?"

"I said that your Fourth chakra is blocked. I can feel it when I heal you. It's like my energy just hits a stone wall, and after that it can't go anywhere." Katara explained.

Zuko's nostrils flared in irritation. "Maybe you're just not trying hard enough to heal me, Waterbender."

Katara glared at him in disapproval. "For the last time, my name is Katara. Ka-tar-ah!"

"Whatever."

"Listen, whether or not you cooperate, I can't completely heal you if your chakra is blocked. This could be a major problem." Katara stood up and brushed the dust from her dress. "I'm going to go talk to your uncle about this. He might know how to fix it."

"Would you mind not dropping all of your dirt on me first?" Zuko clenched his teeth as the dust fell from the girl's robes and collected on his body and his face. He coughed and spat for good measure.

Toph got up and strode over. "What's wrong with a healthy coating of earth?"

Zuko hacked and coughed some more. "It's disgusting and dirty, if you ask me."

"What?!"

Katara held up her hands in a diplomatic stance. "Come on, guys. Let's just _try_ to be civil for a few seconds, please?" She stared at the firebender, her stomach beginning to twist again at the thought of touching him. "Sorry." She offered meekly, and swallowing her anxiety once again, she began to lean down and reach toward the firebender to brush off the deposit of dust and dirt.

"You know, if you make the earthbender let me go I could do it myself." Zuko said, jerking away as much as he possibly could. He couldn't let the chance for him to free himself pass by.

"Yeah, right." Toph sneered. "We're not that stupid, buddy."

Katara looked towards Zuko somewhat sympathetically, and folded her hands. "Toph is right, Zuko. You should know better—that we can't trust you."

Zuko's eyes darkened. "What then, makes you think _I_ can trust _you?_ You guys are the ones that have me tied up against my will and performing waterbending healing experiements on me!"

"Well, for one thing, Aang, Sokka, and I haven't chased _you_ all around the world." Katara replied wittingly. "As far as I'm concerned we haven't done anything to make you distrust _us._"

"What, attacking Fire Nation soldiers and trying to overthrow my father doesn't ring a bell?" Zuko smirked in self-satisfaction.

Katara sucked in an exasperated breath and stood up, looming over the firebender. "Your father and your soldiers are waging a war on the entire world! What do you expect the rest of us to do?!"

"Surrender!"

"Arrrrgh!" Katara threw up her hands and stomped her way to the door, shadowed by Toph, who was secretly enjoying the argument. "Why do I even bother to help you?" Katara asked herself aloud. "Why? Why when you are so ignorant and arrogant and…and…infuriating?!"

"Hey! Are you going to leave me here like this?" Zuko yelled after them, blinking as more kicked-up dust clouded his eyes and invaded his mouth and nostrils. He sucked in and coughed violently as his lungs rejected the foreign substance. To his dismay, Katara tossed him a heated glance, and then she and Toph stormed out and slammed the door.

Zuko slumped his head back down, groaned, and coughed. It was too hard to resist not coughing; the dust in the air hung so thick he could feel it coat his throat. He leaned over to the side and hacked, and then his stubbornness began to fade.

He lifted his head and stared at the door, as if his glaze alone could make it burst into flames. "Waterbender!!" He hollered. "Hey! Come back! Waterbenderrrrrrr!!"

After a minute of silence, with the exception of his screaming, Zuko decided another approach would be more effective.

"Katara!!" He roared. "Ka-tar-ah!"

After a few minutes of vocal straining Zuko got the answer he was waiting for. Katara creaked open the ancient wooden door and poked her head in, glowering unpleasantly. "Are you going to behave now?" She asked, her mouth twisting upward to form a smirk.

"Yes!. Just get all this dirt off of me. I can't stand being dirty."

Katara smiled warmly now, pleased that at least she'd taught the firebender a lesson in manners—temporarily. At least now he knew to call her by her name and not by her bending abilities. Still, who knows how he could change once he got what he wanted? She opened the door and entered, then paused in sudden thought.

_Shoot…why'd I come back in here? Now I'll have to touch him again. _

Katara darted into the corner of the room and grabbed a small, clean piece of cloth she'd leftover from bandaging Zuko's fresh wounds a few days ago. Dunking it into the bowl full of clean water she tenderly…and nervously began to dab the clods of dirt that had gathered on his bare chest. Zuko watched her, noticing her mouth beginning to form that pinched expression again. She wondered why she was so tense, until he noticed her eyes.

Zuko didn't notice her fluttering, thick lashes or the strikingly blue color of them; he'd observed those before. What he became aware of now was the fact that she seemed to be trying as hard as possible to not look at him. Or his chest.

"Something wrong, Waterbender?" He asked, unable to contain his curiosity.

Katara started, pulling away her hand and opening her azure eyes wide. "What? No!"

Her overstated reaction told Zuko everything he needed to know. Of course. He'd found this girl, as well as her brother and the Avatar, in that tiny village hidden deeply in the snows of the South Pole. They were the only teenagers in a place filled to the brim with women and small children, and Zuko doubted that the waterbender had the time for any personal relations while they were rushing around the world with the Avatar. He'd discovered something about Katara—she was embarassed by having to touch him--the opposite sex.

Instantaneously his mind began to crank, formulizing plans and conspiracies that would hinge on the waterbender's one weakness. But he shook away the thoughts—they were unfounded and ridiculous anyway. He couldn't possibly use this "weakness" in a fight against the waterbender. What would he do—rip off his shirt mid-combat? He nearly laughed at the absurdity of the thought.

Meanwhile, Katara had grown bored of dabbing his chest with the wet cloth. She wrung it out and slowly began to wipe his face with it, and her lips pressed together even tighter than before, like two pillows crushed together. Zuko watched her shamelessly, and though she stubbornly stared back, her lips couldn't resist betraying her discomfort with the situation.

"Close your eyes," she breathed, her voice burdened with the weight of embarrassment. She began to delicately wipe away the dust and grime from his brow and lashes.

Zuko obeyed her quiet request, but only because he felt an unusual twinge of sympathy for the girl's case. He'd had his awkward moments growing up, like the first time he looked at a girl and suddenly discovered he appreciated how attractive she was. That girl was Mai, one of Azula's closest friends. They'd grown up together, and it was such an odd experience for him to have noticed her attractiveness one day and remain self-conscious and uncomfortable around her—and other girls—since then. Of course, that experience was quickly followed by the one that changed his life forever, and after that girls were the least of his problems. Zuko scowled as the memories of that terrible and fateful day three years ago invaded his mind.

_His father advancing upon him…his tears…then a roaring, bright flame…then pain…and blindness…_

It reminded Zuko of what his sister had done to him a few days ago, and frankly, he wasn't surprised. In fact, he scolded himself for not knowing better. Azula was ounce for ounce a female replica of their father—it only made sense that she would imitate whatever harm Ozai had caused.

Zuko could feel the pain, slightly numbed, radiating from the wound in his chest. _Two scars, two family members, _He thought grimly, then reminded himself of the Avatar. _One chance to redeem myself._

Katara continued probing his face with the cloth, searching for any stray clods of dust, but she hesitated when she came to his scar. Zuko popped his yellow eyes open, and looked at her calmly. He was used to this.

"It's okay, you can touch it. It's a scar—it's not like it hurts anymore." He told her. It was a lie, of course. The scar still caused Zuko a lot of pain, but it wasn't the physical kind. Every time he caught a glance of his reflection, or a stranger looked at his face with fear or disgust—that was pain.

Katara must have noticed his dismal look in his eyes, and it reflected in her own huge, mirror-like ones. As she finished wiping Zuko's face, her humiliation dimmed and was replaced with wonderings. What was Zuko thinking about? She hadn't really known anything about him other than what was obvious: He wanted to capture Aang and bring him to the Fire Lord, in order to "regain his honor." Oh—and he definitely didn't get along with his sister Azula.

Katara glanced at him again; this time Zuko had downcast his eyes. His brow was furrowed, as if he were recalling some disturbing memory.

"Zuko…are you okay?" She asked bravely.

The firebender flashed his fierce eyes at her. "That's a stupid question. Do you think I'm okay?"

Katara pulled back her hand and placed the cloth into the bowl of water. She settled herself down into a more comfortable position. "Okay, sorry. You just looked…well, sad."

"I've been reduced to a ghost of my former self." Zuko offered the simple, poetic explanation, but then, for some reason unbeknownst to him, felt the urge to elaborate. He resisted it fiercely, but his mouth betrayed him by letting some words escape. "I…I understand…now."

Katara's eyes widened. "Understand what?"

Zuko's expression instantly hardened when he realized he'd exposed the soft underbelly of his emotions. "Never mind." He grunted grumpily.

"Understand what, Zuko?"

Silence.

Katara's features pinched in annoyance. "You know, you don't have to act so hostile towards us. I mean, I understand why you were confused last night, but that's all passed now, and we're trying to help you."

Zuko glowered. "I don't want your help. I didn't ask for it. I've been forced into this situation, in case you haven't noticed." He gestured with his head to his restrained arms and legs.

Katara leaned back against the wall and crossed her arms. "You know, I refuse to believe that. Even if you are the Fire Lord's son, I know you're not like him."

Zuko chuckled in a sinister way. "What makes you think that?"

"Well, if you were, I don't understand why you'd be way out here searching to capture Aang and even have the need to regain your honor anyway." Katara explained, and then she added quietly: "Besides, if you were anything like your father I think he wouldn't have banished you and then made you to be a traitor."

"How did you find that out?" Zuko hissed. This girl—she was a puzzle. At first she had seemed so vulnerable and scared of him and his body. Now she was showing a totally different side to her, a side that probed him for answers and it infuriated him. "Who told you?"

Katara looked down to the ground. "Well, your uncle explained your situation to us while you were unconscious."

Zuko cursed under his breath. Why did his uncle have to betray him like this? To expose his pain and shame-filled past to these strangers, who clearly wouldn't understand? It was bad enough to have lived with his villainous father and sister physically harming him, but now his uncle seemed bent on stripping Zuko of the little dignity he had left in front of his enemies.

Katara continued her lecture. "I mean, why—if you were already labeled a traiter and a fugitive and unable to regain your honor anyway—would you still go after Aang? It's pointless! I can't believe you tracked us all the way here—"

"I didn't track you! I was tracking Azula!" Zuko interjected, his voice trembling with rage.

Katara's anger began to flare as well. "Oh yeah? Well then, why did you try and catch him in that old town? You and your sister were fighting over him—over which one could catch him and carry him home to you father—like he's a prize!"

"He's an enemy!"

"He's a _person!_"

"SO AM I!!" Zuko roared, his eyes nearly glowing with rage. He lifted his body up, straining against the stone manacles that held him to the ground, and snarled into the face of the waterbender. "SO AM I!!"

Katara drew back against the wall, her fears rising in her throat, clenching it. She could feel the heat in the room rising rapidly, corresponding with Zuko's anger. A million terrible thoughts flooded her mind when she looked into those yellow and gold-flecked eyes. What if he could somehow firebend without having to use his arms and legs? Would he hurt her if he could? She didn't want to stick around to find out. The lean muscles in her legs contracted and sprung, and she was across the room and closing in on the door in an instant. Even when she was outside and had slammed the door violently shut, she kept running. Past the others, who watched her dash away with confusion. Past their campsite, with the red-orange embers from their late-night fire still smoking slightly.

Katara wasn't running from Zuko anymore—she was running from what he'd said. She refused to believe it. Zuko was a talented liar at most—but an actual person? With feelings and emotions and baggage? It couldn't be.

Finally, Katara's lungs and legs began to ache, begging her to stop her flight across the Earth Kingdom plains. She stopped and leaned over; resting her hands on her knees and gasped at the dusty air. Squeezing her eyes tightly, Katara tried in vain to fight back the reality of her desperate need to escape.

_He is not a person, not a real one. _She attempted to comfort herself._ Not a person not a person not a real person._

The waterbender sank down to the ground, the stubborn pricks of the dry grass that grew here grasping at her clothing. Her own actions had betrayed her thoughts. She repeated the comforting mantra over and over to herself. But in her heart of hearts, Katara become conscious of something that contradicted everything she had believed up to that point:

Zuko was right. He was a person. Somewhere beneath the smoldering exterior Katara had seen a glimmer of humanity in him. And that was what was most frightening. Zuko was right, Katara realized. He was right.

Besides, she couldn't have run away from something that she didn't believe was real.

((((((((((((((((((((((((o **Personal Thingy** o)))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))

Yay! Extra-long second chapter for my wonderful reviewers! I like to make things personal, so I usually respond to my reviews, as long as I have the time. It's my way of personally thanking you guys, since I love you and appreciate your feedback so much. Thanks to my first eleven reviewers:

**Water Bender Zeonii:** I'm happy that you think this idea is cool! I've always wondered why Azula _didn't_ try to zap Zuko instead of Iroh, since her personal vendetta seems to be primarily against him in the first place. I'm glad that you think my interpretation of Zuko is in character—I was a bit worried about his sudden outbursts, but you've dissected my insecurities! And you're my very first reviewer! Thanks very much!

**LordRevanGrandMaster…: **I'm pleased to hear that you like my idea. I know that it's a common topic on Avatar forums and websites, and I'd never seen any fanfiction elaborating upon it, so I decided to do it myself. Besides, it's been a while since I've last written, and I needed a creative outlet. Thanks ever so much for being my second reviewer!

**Superkawaiifox:** Thank you! I hope this second chapter is a good continuation to a great start! Thank you thank you thank you! I appreciate the positive feedback so much!

**Heihachi Katayama: **I've seen a lot of people wonder about this situation on forums and chat rooms about Avatar, so I decided to build upon people's curiosities. I'm glad you liked it! Thank you very much for the great feedback, it's great to hear from a reader!

**Purewhiteshadow:** Thanks for your compliments! I hope you enjoyed the second chapter as much as the first! Thanks ever so much for the feedback!

**ML7:** You're very welcome for the message—you deserved it. No other reader has been so loyal to stick with me for what—like ten months? When I didn't write a single word? I should be thanking you over and over again. If it hadn't been for your occasional e-mails, I don't know if I would have begun this story. So thank you, once again, because despite taking such a long break from it, I really enjoy writing fanfiction. I'm also very glad that you think that I've gotten off to an interesting and good start. I hope you like this chapter as much as the last—it's extra long! Yay! Oh, and Zuko doesn't have the best attitude in this chapter either, but as you can see—he and Katara are knocking heads and learning about each other in the process. I'm sure that Azula will come in later in the story and complicate things as she always does. Anyway, thank you forever and ever for being a great reviewer and giving me feedback!

**Khushiyan:** grins gleefully I'm so glad that you think Zuko is in character! That's really the most important thing in a story—the plot can be great but if the characters are phony and fake you can't get into it. So I'm overjoyed to get such positive feedback from people. Also, I've never had any of my stories called "wicked" before! Thanks, thanks, thanks, and thanks again!

**Pink princess 16:** Here is your requested update! I hope you like it, and thank you very much for your feedback on the first chapter! Thanks!

**Music is my BFF:** Thanks for your feedback—you're idea is interesting and would have been a good addition to the story. I guess I have nothing to plead for not adding what happened after Zuko got hurt except that I'm really impatient and like to get to the creamy center of the story quickly. However, I'm glad that you like what I have! I've always looked for a story with the same plotline and when I didn't find one I thought I would write one for everyone to enjoy. I really appreciate the feedback. Thank you very much!

**Charizardag:** Thank you very much for the feedback! I hope you enjoyed this chapter as much as you liked the last, or better! LOL, thanks again!

**Akriloth Warrior:** Thanks for the compliments! If this had actually happened in the actual animated series I'm sure the Zutara would have been on that show like syrup on pancakes. Who knows? Anything is possible! (I don't know about you but I'm still praying that all this Miako stuff will smother itself and that Katara and Zuko will somehow end up together—but that's just me and my overactive imagination.) Thanks very much for your feedback, I appreciate it more than you know. Thanks again, and goodnight folks!

Roseblade22


	3. This is War

**_The Hurt Remains_**

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing.

**Author's note: **I apologize for this chapter being sooo late, but dammit, I have some good reasons. I've been under unbelievable stress lately. Family. Boyfriend. School. Finding a place to live next year. And all of it always happens at once, you know? shakes fists towards heaven Curse you, Fate!

Anyway, I hope you all enjoy the next chapter. It's not very long, but it's all the I had the energy to scrap up. If you're interested in more Zutara, please take a look at my new one-shot—"The Darkest Night." It's not for the faint at heart but it's good!

Thanks again for your patience—I love you all for sticking by me!

O((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((o _**Chapter 3**_ o))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))O

The morning after Katara's argument with Zuko, Sokka approached his little sister with a solemn look on his face. Katara regarded him with seriousness, staring into his eyes, twin pools that were slightly darker and deeper with age.

Sokka's brow furrowed menacingly. "Katara, do you want to tell me—"

"What happened last night?" Katara interjected, knowing the source of her brother's concern. "No…I don't really. But you're not going to give me a choice, are you?"

The teenager's face grew dark and grim with her comment. "I don't like when you keep secrets. We never used to."

"I know, Sokka, but we're growing up, and now there are just some things that I can't tell you." The girl regretted the words as soon as they slipped from between her lips, knowing they would cut her brother deeply. But they were unforgivingly true, and she couldn't deny Sokka the truth.

"I don't think what happened last night is about _that_ sort of stuff," stated Sokka after a brief pause.

"No."

"No what?"

"I mean, 'no', it's not about that stuff. You're right." Katara fluttered her bright eyes towards the orange and pink painted sky. "It's just stupid."

Sokka gestured for the two to sit near the smoldering remains of their campfire. Katara obliged and curled her knees up under her chin protectively. Sokka hunkered down to lounge on top of his sleeping back, which he had neglected to put away. Noticing this slightly annoyed Katara, and she wanted to order him in her usual motherly way to put his things away and keep the campsite neat, but she resisted the urge and looked towards him expectedly.

"What happened?" The boy finally asked. "Did Zuko say something that upset you? Because if he did—"

"He did—and didn't." Katara breathed. "It wasn't that serious. He's just getting on my nerves."

"Is he being rude? I'm sure Iroh would be able to set him straight."

Katara bit her lip nervously. She wasn't sure how to say what she wanted to her brother. It was difficult to point out something she'd always known but had imposed unimportance on in her mind. If she had a hard time facing it, she doubted Sokka would want to hear it.

"No, it wasn't that he was being rude…well, he was, but that's not the point." She glanced at him seriously. "He was getting to me because he was acting like—a real person for the first time."

Sokka threw her a disbelieving face, just as Katara predicted.

"Sokka, as much as you'd like to continue denying it, he really is! Now that he's here we can't keep up that façade!" Katara crossed her arms and curled out into a small blue-clad ball, huffing. "I mean, he looked at me once with this terribly sad look—this tortured, miserable look—and I made me wonder what on earth could have caused him to feel that way."

"What, like a-baby-seal-caught-in-the-rain-without-it's-mother-look?"

"No, more like a I've-been-emotionally-tortured-my-entire-miserable-life-look."

The boy grimaced, as though the thought of Zuko being anything but a villain in his eyes caused him physical pain. "Did it ever occur to you that maybe he brought it on himself? Maybe it was something he deserved."

"Do you think that he deserves that horrible scar on his face?" Katara retorted angrily. "He couldn't have done that by himself."

"Did Zuko tell you anything about it?" Sokka asked, more out of curiosity than concern for the Fire Nation Prince.

Katara shook her head quickly. "No. And I didn't care to ask."

"What about going to Iroh about it? He'd know for sure."

"Sokka!"

"What?"

Katara put her hands on her hips, leaning forward assertively. "We can't just go wandering around Iroh all day asking questions about Zuko. It's disrespectful."

"What—towards Zuko? Why is that such a big deal? It's not like he's shown us any courtesy." Sokka immediately threw himself into a mocking impersonation of the firebender. "Excuse me, my dear water-and air-bending fellows? You surely wouldn't mind if I chased you mercilessly around the world, attempting to cage you like animals and deliver you my tyrannical father as war prizes, would you? No, I thought not."

Katara sighed and looked him in the eyes with a serious look. "Come on, Sokka," she urged. "You know as well as I do—even if you won't admit it—that Zuko must have some humanity somewhere in him. I think he's beginning to show it. It's just upsetting to watch now because for so long he seemed so evil to us."

"Hm." Sokka shifted uncomfortably, his hands brushing the underside of his chin. Katara watched him with interest, both saddened and proud. Her brother was turning into a warrior—and not the dumb, brutish kind. He was intelligent and pondering; constantly learning new things that would aid and protect their small band of outlaws. But despite all he had gained on their adventures, she couldn't forget the remains of a normal teenage life he'd left behind.

She briefly wondered that if Zuko did indeed have the tattered remains of a normal teenager somewhere hidden inside him, how she could possibly coax them out without risking life or limb. General Iroh was already on their side, but if converted, Zuko could prove an even more powerful ally. Not only was he trained formally with the Fire Nation military, but he was the Fire Lord's son. The information he could provide them if he cooperated could be all they needed to end this war. But how to persuade him?

Sokka glanced at his sister when he'd finished his pondering. "What do you want to do about it?" He asked.

"What do you think I should do?"

The boy threw up his hands, exhausted with the subject. "Katara, I really don't know. You're the one that's good at counseling people."

Katara stood up, dusting off the front of her blue robes. "I know…" she mumbled. "But even I'm stumped. I guess the only think I can do is keep talking to him."

"Why don't you do that," Sokka nodded his head.

"I will," replied the waterbender determinedly, newfound courage suddenly sparking inside her. She nodded appreciatively towards her brother. "Thanks, Sokka."

"Just doin' my job!"

Katara smiled, and then turned and walked off, scanning the area for Toph, and mentally readying herself for Zuko's next healing session.

_**O0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0oo0**_

Zuko heard the waterbender enter his room, her footsteps sliding lightly across the floor. The tiny earthbender followed closely behind. His eyes were closed, but he cracked open one eyelid to acknowledge their appearance. He was slightly surprised to see a few strips of rope in Katara's hands. She must have noticed his strange look, because she held them up and explained their purpose.

"I was thinking those rock-shackles must be really uncomfortable, so we're going to try a different approach," she told him gently.

Zuko didn't want to hear it. Rock or fabric, he would still be bound up like some common criminal. "If this is your way of apologizing for you behavior yesterday, Waterbender, it's not going to work."

"What makes you think that we came in here to apologize?" Scoffed Toph. She plopped her small body down in front of Zuko's outstretched body and looked towards Katara expectedly.

Katara, on the other hand, stood over the Prince with her hands on her hips and a frown tugging at her lips. "You're the one who owes an apology, as far as I'm concerned," she scolded him. "But lucky for you, I'm not one to hold a grudge. Toph?"

"Got it!" Chirped the earthbender, and Zuko suddenly felt his limbs moving involuntarily. He made an upsetting noise and glared at the two females.

"What are you doing!? Ouch!" He winced as Toph smirked and tighted the shackles around his wrists and legs. The earth beneath him twisted and bulged, and his arms moved upward, reaching above his head, wrists almost touching.

Katara circled around him and silently tied the rope securely around his wrists. Zuko strained his neck and watched her hands working on him, trying to keep note of the type of knot she was tying, but it was one he'd never learned. He could try breathing fire to incinerate the ropes, only at the risk of severely burning his hands and feet. No—that would only make him even less mobile, and worse, it would give the waterbender more excuses to "heal" him. Groaning miserably, he slumped his head to the side. It was unlikely he would be able to escape this different type of bond.

Zuko's mind began to twist, but he was soon distracted when he felt Katara shuffling about his feet. She tied his ankles together in the same fashion as she did his wrists, and then turned towards Toph and nodded. Zuko sighed in relief as his rocky cuffs receded into the stone floor, and he was able to sit up for the first time since Azula had attempted to kill him.

Katara watched Zuko carefully as he sat up and studied his wrists. Now that he was a little more mobile, she had to be extra careful about watching everything he did. Whether or not he had a shred of normalcy within him, she couldn't afford to trust him just yet.

Pulling water from her water skin, she kneeled beside firebender. "Much better, right?" She asked.

Zuko tossed her a look that was as sharp and dangerous as a dagger. He said nothing, but Katara welcomed the silence. She dropped her gaze down to the seated earthbender.

"Toph, you could leave now if you want. I can handle it from here."

The other girl pondered this for a brief moment, and then shook her head. "Nah, I'll stay. I still don't trust this guy enough to leave him alone with you."

"How intelligent of you," Zuko growled under his breath, sarcasm dripping from his mouth.

"Is that a threat?" Toph retorted, standing up and stomping her feet for good measure.

Katara reached her hands outwards peaceably. "Come on, you guys—do we have to go through this _again_? Toph, sit down!"

The earthbender snapped her mouth shut, crossed her legs and slumped down, but sent Katara a heated glance. Katara chose to ignore it. She turned towards the firebender, who sat writhing on the floor.

"And _you_," she said in a motherly tone, although her own anger was beginning to rise like bile in her throat. "You had better stop being rude. We're helping you. I'm healing you. Couldn't you show a scrap of gratitude?"

"I'm under no obligation to express gratitude for help I don't want!"

"Are you kidding?" Toph chimed in. "If it weren't for Katara's healing abilities, you probably would have been dead by now!"

"As if you care!"

"Maybe we would have," Katara cut in. "How would you know? It's not like you've taken the time to get to know any of us!"

Zuko's anger flared deep inside him like the mouth of a heated volcano. He was still bitter from the argument he and the waterbender had yesterday, and today he was determined to make her pay for it. If she insisted on helping him when he didn't want it, he vowed to make it as difficult as possible, through whatever means necessary.

"Don't you think for one second that you know me, Waterbender." He whispered treacherously. "You have no idea what I have been through."

"Oh, really? Then why don't you tell me about it. I'm all ears. What sort of tragedy has befallen you?" Katara challenged.

Zuko's upper lip curled into a fierce snarl. "Certainly more than you've ever experienced!"

"How dare you? You don't have any idea what I have been through in my lifetime—me personally!" Katara retorted, a cool fire kindling in her soul as well. "We've had people we love destroyed because of this war! My mother…Aang lost the entire Air Nomad nation—he's more alone in this world than anyone!"

"I'm well aware of the fates of the other Air Nomads! Trust me, Waterbender—losing the people you love to death is much easier than waking up every morning knowing that your own family either abandoned you or wants to see you dead!" Zuko leaned menacingly forward, shadows casting across his twisted features. His eyes glinted dangerously.

Katara bit her lip. "It still doesn't excuse what you've done us—"

"I don't need an excuse."

Toph smirked mischievously. "What he needs is a good kick in the—"

"Toph!" Katara gasped. She threw up her hands for the second time, exasperated. "Okay, okay! We'll leave. We'll just leave. Come on, Toph."

"But—"

The waterbender shot the smaller girl an icy glare, but then she cast her gaze on Zuko. "Alright, you win. No healing session today. But tomorrow I'm coming back--and then we're going to act civilized."

"Don't bet on it," scoffed the firebender.

Katara stared at him one last second, trying desperately to think of something that could somehow sway Zuko's stubborn mind. Her brain was blank. He had mentally exhausted her in a matter of minutes. Something would have to be done about this.

"Let's go, Toph."

The two girls marched out of the room, their feet angrily pounding on the floor noisily. Toph turned her head towards Katara as soon as they reached a spot where she knew Zuko couldn't overhear their conversation.

"That guy is the most infuriating person I've ever met—and believe me, I've met a lot of them!" She shook her head in amazement, as if to clear her mind of angry thoughts.

Katara cast a glance at the earthbender beside her. Toph was right—Zuko knew precisely how to push their buttons. He was an expert at bringing the worst out in people. Katara couldn't let this happen again. Even if it killed her, she was determined to scrap out the remnants of a human being that remained trapped inside Zuko. Setting her steely glance forward, Katara spoke reassuringly to her earth-bending companion:

"Don't worry, Toph. Zuko might have won the battle, but he won't win the war."

_**O0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o**_

_**PERSONAL THINGY**_

**ML7:** Thanks for the review, faithful reader! Sorry it took so damn long to get up! You wouldn't believe my workload…anyway, no need to bog up this response with that dreary crap—I'm glad that you liked it. Unfortunately, you didn't get more of Zuko getting alone with the group, but I've got a little tiny plot thing going on here. I hope you enjoyed it. Thanks for reading!

**Dontwaitupxx:** Thanks for reading and reviewing. I'm not quite sure I get this whole "golden, silver pellets" thing, but whatever—award what you wish! I'm glad you visited my profile—most reviewers don't bother—even though there's a ton of info and updates made on there. It's refreshing to see someone who actually cares who I am! Thanks very much!

**Avatargirl92: **Thanks very much for the kind review and the compliments. I'm very glad that I made it onto your favorites and your C2. It's always a plus! And although I know I'm good at writing…I wouldn't go so far to say that I have a gift—I know some people who have that "gift" and my stuff just pales in comparison to theirs. I appreciate your compliments though! Thank you much!

**Zutara4lyfe: **I agree—those "Katara gets captured" stories are a dime a dozen nowadays. Even I've tried that (my story "Into the Fire"), but I like to think that mine isn't typical. Thanks for your compliments, they are greatly appreciated!

**NorthernLights25:** I'm glad you like it! Thanks for reviewing, and I hope you liked this chapter as well as you did the last two. Thanks again!

**FireChildSlytherin5: **Thanks for the review! It's been forever since I last updated (February) but believe me—I'm trying! Thanks for the support!

**Wicca in training:** I agree that Zutara kicks some major ass. Even though it seems the most unlikely pairing of the three (Zutara, Maiko, and Kataang), I think it's definitely the most interesting! Thanks for the review!

**PearlBlue5: **I'm glad you liked it. I think that it's not all that hard to see that Zuko is, in fact, very human—but if you're part of the Aang Gaang you have to look extra hard—past all your assumptions—in order to see it. More of that will develop in later chapters! Thanks for the review!

**Akriloth Warrior: **Thanks for the review! I'm not that fond of Maiko either (I very much prefer Zutara, as you can see) but I guess I'll be happy as long as poor Zuko has somebody to be happy with at the end of it all. He deserves it, right? Thanks again!

**N3rdchik:** You got your wish for…more Sokka! Not very much Iroh or Aang though. Maybe next time. Thanks for your kind compliments, they are so encouraging! And thanks for the review!

**Latafmodginkianp1618: **I'm glad you liked the last chapter, and as you can see, I took my time (about 3 whole months) writing the next one. Not great, but some plot is developing. I hope you like. Thanks for the review!

**Aspergian Genius: **Thanks for the ideas with the dialogue and the review! They are both very encouraging and useful.

**Keiara the Waterbender: **I'm glad you like it! Katara eventually solving Zuko's chakra problem (and maybe some romance along the way) is defiantly the path I'm going down—for now. It's difficult to tell where these stories end up when you're still writing about them. Thanks for the review!

**LordRevanGrandMaster…: **Sorry for not updating! I'm very thankful for your review though, it's encouraging and very nice. And don't worry—Katara and Zuko will get over touching each other soon enough. LOL! Thanks for the review!

**Lady Amaya: **Thank you, I'm glad you liked!

**Dragon Jadefire: **Thanks for the review! I hope you liked this chapter as much as the last!

**AlinaAlone#1: **I'm glad you found my story interesting! Thanks very much for the review, and I'm looking forward to writing more as long as your interesting in reading it! Thanks!


	4. Score

Disclaimer: I own nothing

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing.

**Author's Note:** Sorry this chapter is so short…I'm seriously struggling to make any time for it. Finals are coming up! Gah! Anyway, I hope you guys like—I don't consider it my best work. Please send encouragement in the form of REVIEWSSS….love ya.

O0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o**CHAPTER FOUR**o0o0o0oo0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

The next morning Katara vowed to take on Zuko with a vengeance. She wasn't going to back down this time. This time she came armed—with something that was sure to give her some assurance, some confidence. Something that guaranteed Zuko couldn't intimidate her. And something she had stolen from Sokka's bag while he wasn't looking.

It was a shirt.

It was a modestly fashioned one, at best. Katara couldn't remember, but she was almost certain that the shirt was one of Sokka's impulse buys he made while they were wandering the various towns in the Earth Kingdom. It was sleeveless, green, and had a bit of detailed embroidery alone the collar and the hem.

The waterbender entered the room cautiously, her ears perking, listening for any signs of movement. She heard none, and stepped delicately into the room, which was flooded with the morning light. Zuko sat across from the door, his ankles and hands still obediently bound, staring at some cracks in the wall adjacent to him. He didn't event turn his head to acknowledge Katara's appearance. The waterbender frowned. He was still being stubborn—still determined to ignore and irritate and irately plunder her patience.

Angrily, Katara gathered up the shirt and chucked it at high speed into his chest. The firebender made a little surprised grunt as the bundle hit him square in the chest, and then he turned his yellow eyes on Katara, glaring. She met his stare with her own icy gaze.

"Here's a little present for you," she told him sternly. "Put it on or I'm not coming anywhere near you."

Zuko scowled bitterly. "Where's your little earthbending sidekick?"

"That's not your concern," Katara countered. "Didn't I just tell you do put on that shirt?"

"Please—you cannot expect me to take orders from a child."

Katara could feel her blood boil already, but she wouldn't let Zuko get the upper hand. "Child?! Excuse me, but aren't you only—what? A year older than I am? At most?"

A thoughtful look overcame the firebender's face, and it looked foreign on his features. "I have no idea. I don't know your age."

"I'm fourteen."

"Well, I'm sixteen."

"Which means you're just as much a child as I am."

Zuko raised his head defiantly. "Actually, in my country, being sixteen legally makes me an adult."

"Oh, really? Well, where I come from, adulthood is determined by our maturity. And right now you're functioning at an eight-year-old's level." Katara grinned triumphantly as she watched Zuko's face crease in anger. Remarkably, he didn't blow up as he had the nights before.

"I don't need to explain my behavior to you, peasant."

"Are you going to put on the shirt or not?" Katara asked, placing her hand on her hip and a frown pulling at her lips.

Zuko's eyes narrowed. "Well, that will be somewhat difficult, considering that both my hands are bound."

Katara frowned displeasingly. She had forgotten about Zuko's physical restraints, and that meant…she lamented even bringing the shirt at all…that she would have to help him dress. Her comfort level suddenly plummeted, and she could feel her heart begin to pound in nervousness. Zuko couldn't know about it. She approached him gracefully, feigning calm and confidence. Reaching her delicate, browned hands towards him, she gathered and unfolded the shirt, then flung half of it over her shoulder. Then she extended her arms towards Zuko.

"Give me your hands," she commanded softly.

Zuko hesitated a moment, but then yielded his bound wrists, turning them upward so that Katara could see the slight blue color of the veins under the skin, and she could even see his pulse. It was the slightest, most minute movement, which pumped a tiny portion of skin near his palm up and down in a steady rhythm. Katara watched it, somehow curious, as she untied the knots. She saw the pulse grow less steady and calm—it too began to mimic her own, pumping the skin concealing it up and down suddenly. Katara was confused, and she looked up at the firebender's face for answers.

She wasn't expecting to lock eyes with him. They were so close now, and he was staring at her. Not just a regular stare. The kind of stare that Katara felt cut through her flesh and look inside her—into her very soul. She didn't like this feeling, and abruptly glanced back down, paying all of her attention to the knot she was undoing. The waterbender kept in mind the chance that he would try to attack her, but she was equipped with her waterskin, bulging full, ready for use should she need it.

Finally, the knot came undone. Zuko seemed to breath in relief when his arms were freed, and he didn't seem interested in attacking, but even so, Katara jumped up and placed her hand protectively over her waterskin. The firebender looked at her like she was the biggest of fools.

"Don't bother," Zuko scoffed. "If I attacked you know I'd have to deal with my uncle's lecture about bad manners."

Katara's eyes narrowed, but she dropped her hands. Reaching over her shoulder for the shirt, she handed it to him. "There. Can you manage now?"

The boy smirked and stood up, slipping his arms into the fabric. Katara couldn't help her eyes being drawn to Zuko's bare chest. Embarassed by her own thoughts, she turned away, shielding her eyes with the palm of her hand. But it was too late; she could feel the dreadful warm flush of blush creeping up her neck and invading her cheeks. After a moment she glanced over her shoulder to see if Zuko was finished.

She didn't see him at first, then spotted him to the left, poised just out of vision. He'd untied the binds around his ankles…and put on the shirt she'd given him, thank goodness. Katara immediately launched into a defense stance; though Zuko made no move other than to gently toss the length of rope he'd removed back at her.

"I'm not going to be a prisoner any more," he instructed. "And I'm not going to fight you either."

Katara scowled but held her stance. "After all your fuss yesterday, you just changed your mind like that?" she injected sarcastically.

"No, I used my head. It seems to be an unusual thing around here," Zuko retorted, still making no threatening movements. "If what you said about my heart chakra being blocked is true, I won't even be capable of bending."

The Prince outstretched his right hand and clenched his fist tightly, while Katara raised her hands protectively across her face, reading herself for a potential attack. But it never came. Zuko's fist began to smoke, and his brow furrowed in either frustration or concentration—Katara didn't know which—but no flames ignited. Exasperated, Zuko flung his hand back to his side and looked at the waterbender angrily.

"See? I've got no bending." He pivoted around and rubbed his wrists, his head drooping. "I'm no threat to you now."

Katara relaxed…slightly. "What kind of mind games are you playing on me, Zuko? And how do I know that you're not faking losing your bending?"

Zuko faced her once more. "Please, waterbender. You know I'm hardly the kind to play that card. Believe me, if I could firebend, I'd be miles away already!"

"I so don't believe you!"

"You want me to go back to being difficult, then?" Zuko chirped, steping forward. "Alright, I don't mind. I actually enjoyed irritating you."

Katara stepped forward in turn and thrust a finger in the boy's face. "You…you…"

"Me. Yeah, I know, you hate me."

"I never said that."

"If you insist, waterbender."

The girl placed her hands on her hips. It was impeccable how quickly Zuko could irritate the heck out of her. She wanted to just storm out of the room like she had yesterday, but if she did, that meant that Zuko would win yet another battle. She couldn't let him get the upper hand again. His ego was already too inflated.

Then Katara was struck with a brilliant—no, beyond brilliant—idea.

"You are already being difficult, and the more you act this way the less I feel like healing you," Katara explained, and then dropped the bomb. "And if you want me to heal you and restore your bending, you're going to have to earn my services."

That stopped Zuko in his tracks. He blinked at her. "Earn?"

Katara nodded her head enthusiastically. "Yes—earn. It means that you'll have to pull your weight around here. Your uncle does it perfectly well. I'm sure you could too."

"I don't have to do anything for you!" Zuko's temper began to flare, and Katara knew that now, it was she who was gaining the upper hand.

She stepped in even closer. "If you want your bending back? You will."

Zuko stared at the girl in front of him in disbelief. Suddenly his cocky witticism dissolved, and his lips formed a tight thin line on his face. After a few moments he spat out a single angry, and defeated word.

"Fine," he agreed.

Katara's face instantly burst into a wide smile; she made no effort to hide it. "Great!" She said cheerily. "Why don't you follow me and we'll go ask Sokka what he thinks you should do."

She began to walk towards the exit but glanced back over her shoulder, fully intending to throw another victorious smile at the bitter Zuko. But he hadn't budged, and he regarded her with a fierce glare.

"There is no way that I'm taking orders from that Water Tribe peasant!" He insisted stubbornly.

Katara approached him again, this time with a slightly harder, more icy look on her face. "Well, then I suppose you won't be receiving any healing from _this_ Water Tribe peasant!"

Zuko's eyes flared and his head reeled back a bit, but Katara didn't back down. She held his gaze. Finally beat, Zuko forced out another exasperated "Fine."

Another smirk graced the waterbender's face. "Let's go then."

Katara victoriously marched out the door, with an angry and defeated Zuko lingering behind. She led the Prince through the alleyways of the abandoned Earth Kingdom town, the reactions of her friends running over and over like small dramas in her mind. Surely they would be surprised, even shocked, that Zuko had finally abandoned his charade and decided to work with the group. Of course, she couldn't give the Prince too much credit, because he was only doing it to gain his bending back. She glanced once more over her shoulder at the teenager walking steadily behind her; he looked none too happy to stare back at her, shooting daggers from his eyes.

It didn't matter. As long as Zuko's chakra was blocked, he had no bending. He had no way of threatening them. He was…essentially harmless. And now he could be useful too.

Smiling wider, Katara strode towards the group campsite, thankful to have won today's battle.

**_PERSONAL THINGY:_ How'd all my reader's like the little "Uh-oh, Zuko can't bend" curve-ball? Lol. Hope you all liked--once again--PLEASE REVIEW!!**

**_REVIEWER RESPONSES: (Cuz I love yalls)_**

**purewhiteshadow:** Yeah, he is pretty immature in this story, isn't he? Thanks for reading!

**tantei39kunoichi:** I'm really glad you enjoyed! Thanks for the review!

**Avatargirl92:** I have a personal policy that I respond to every (friendly) review I get in the next chapter if I'm not completly squashed for time! So you'll be mentioned every chapter from now on, as long as you review! Thanks for you continued support!

**Bonnie:** I'm glad you like it so much! I always strive to make my stories different than the typical Zutara. And--let's face it--Zuko is never at the mercy of the Gaang very often, and certainly not without his bending power. How'd you like that little curveball? Thanks for reviewing!

**wicca in training:** I agree with you that good vs. bad pair-ups are interesting, because all of the time in order for the story to turn out happy one of them needs to change, and to me, relationships are all about comprimise. I also really like Zuko's character because he's sort of the bad guy, but he's the rare, wonderful type that gets the chance to redeem himself in the end. LOVE THAT. And love you for reviewing again! Thanks!

**dontwaitupxx:** Untie Zuko? Wish granted! Thanks for the review!

**Harlequin Jade:** Thanks for the review, I'm glad you liked! Thanks again!

**Akriloth Warrior:** I'm not sure how Katara would react if Zuko told her that yet...maybe later. Thanks for review; I'm glad you like it!

**BlueHeavensAngel:** I wondered what would have happened if Zuko got hit too, and that's why I wrote this story. I'm glad you think that it's atypical. I try! Thanks very much, glad you enjoyed!

**pink princess 16:** I'm not telling who wins! But I'm hoping that both will! :) Thanks for the review, I'm glad you enjoyed.

**ML7:** Hey faithful! Thanks for the review! I'm working on the humanity/Zuko thing. I'll knead it out eventually. I'm glad you liked. Thanks again!

**NorthernLights25:** Thanks for the encouragement, I'm glad you liked it! Thanks for the review too--love!

**ManyWaysForgotten:** Thanks for the review and I'm glad you added me to your faves! I'm flattered! Hoped you liked this chapter...thanks again!

**Dragon Jadefire:** Thanks for the review, and I'm glad you liked!

**FireChildSlytherin5:** I'm glad you're enjoying the way I'm portraying Zuko in this fic! Thanks for the review!

**LordRevanGrandMaster:** I'm glad you thought it was worth the wait! Fortunately, you didn't have to wait so long for this chapter...thanks very much for he review and your continued support and encouragement! Thanks again!

**Aussiereader:** Thanks, I'm flattered to hear that you think it's an awesome story, and I'm also glad it made you laugh! I'm sure that Zuko and Iroh will have words for each other, especially now that Zuko is somewhat free to roam around the campsite. Thanks very much for the review!


	5. Conflicts and Compromises

Disclaimer: I own nothing

* * *

**Chapter 5**

"Argh…how much longer do I have to keep doing this?" The whining voice of the Fire Nation Prince spread across the modest campsite. "There's hardly _any_ wood around here!"

"That's because it's grassland, genius!" Sneered Toph, who was seated near the fire pit, happily demeaning Zuko every chance she got.

Aang regarded the entire situation quietly, but he visibly flinched every time Zuko cast a cold glance his way. The young Avatar wasn't yet used to the older boy being anything other than an unconscious heap on the floor. He couldn't help but wonder if—even if he was rendered incapable of firebending as Katara claimed—Zuko was still dangerous. His mind wandered to the events months ago, when Zuko had unexpectantly rescued him from Admiral Zhao's clutches. Certainly he hadn't resorted to bending then, and yet Zuko was still capable of outmaneuvering dozens of elite guards. The only thing that had been swift enough to defeat the firebender was an expertly aimed arrow.

Aang regarded the grumbling, unhappy Prince as he shuffled about the campsite, the others eyes following him. Yes, Aang decided. Zuko was still dangerous, even without his bending abilities, despite what the others believed. The Avatar decided to keep a close eye on the Fire Nation Prince. He had to protect his friends, and judging by Zuko's fiery anger, there was no telling what he could do given a chance.

Still, Katara putting Zuko to work for the rest of them was a brilliant idea, and everyone else seemed pleased. With the exception of Zuko, of course.

The Prince dropped and armload of pitiful, broken sticks near the fire pit and spread his arms out dramatically towards his uncle, who was leaning over a pot on the smoldering embers, stirring its contents in an effort to make tea.

"Uncle, I can't believe you are condoning this!" Zuko cried.

The old man raised a grey, bushy eyebrow and turned his spoon towards the Prince. "I think this is an excellent way to build character, Prince Zuko. Besides, these nice people have helped us in a number of ways for the past week—I think it's about time you repaid them."

"Nice people?!" Groaned the younger firebender. "They tied me up!"

Aang watched the argument silently, and then Sokka moved into camp, a homemade spear and some game birds tucked under one arm. The Water Tribe boy couldn't help but notice the commotion Zuko was causing.

"What, is our slave unhappy?" he commented with a smirk.

Zuko turned and threw a glance that was like a thousand icy daggers towards the Water Tribe boy. "You are lucky I can't firebend, peasant, because if I could—"

Aang was about to stand and offer the two boys a few mediating words, but then Katara's loud voice spread across the camp, and she sprung out of her tent, storming over to the scene like a thundery cloud.

"Zuko! Sokka! I don't remember giving you permission to argue!" The waterbender approached the two boys and stood between them.

Sokka gaped at his sister and gestured towards the demeaned Prince. "What, I can't taunt him? Come on, Katara—"

"Sokka, I'm not coming on! I'm tired of babysitting boys who are older than I am! Why can't you two just act your age!"

"I cannot compose myself, much less do any sort of work around here, with _him_ constantly belittling me!" Zuko pointed an angry index finger at the Water Tribe warrior. He then directed his finger towards Toph, who was grinning. "And she's no help either!"

Katara ground her teeth, her icy blue eyes darting back in forth between each member of the offending parties. She felt a fire burning in her lungs, making her tongue itch to lash out at her brother, the earthbender, and the Fire Nation Prince for behaving so stupidly. But if she lost her temper here, she'd be just the same as any of them. She took a few deep breaths in order to calm her raging spirit. Someone had to keep order here.

"Okay, Zuko—you can stop work for now. I think you've done enough to earn a healing session for tonight," she concluded. "And Sokka—if you're so belittling of the work Zuko's been doing, then you can go out and find more firewood."

The blue-clad boy crossed his arms in annoyance and groaned. "Are you serious, Katara? Why are you even doing this? Our one major enemy is suddenly unable to bend, but you want to _heal_ him?"

"That's not the point, Sokka!"

"What is the point then? You think that once you heal Zuko that he's going to suddenly be grateful and become civil towards us?" Sokka angrily screamed. "Katara, look at him! He's his father's son!"

General Iroh stood up at that comment. "Now boys—"

"Don't you _dare_ try and tell me that I am anything like my father!" Zuko shouted, stepping towards the other teenager and extending a pointed finge towards Sokka's face. His eyes burned with rage. "You don't know me!"

"Zuko," Katara stepped towards the Prince and attempted to push him away, but her small form was not match for the firebender, even when he was injured and weak.

"I don't need to know you! I know all there is to know about you!" Sokka retorted. "I know that your father has destroyed nearly everything he's every touched, and as far as I'm concerned, it runs in the family!"

"At least I still have a family," Zuko muttered under his breath, having no idea what that statement meant to the other boy.

Sokka's eyes suddenly bulged in rage, and he sprung forward towards the firebender, a fist cocked back and ready to strike. Katara gasped and reached for her water skin, but was abruptly shoved out of the way by Zuko. Iroh, Aang, and Toph watched in shock as Sokka's fist connected solidly with the Prince's jaw with a sickening crunch.

"Sokka, no!" Screamed Katara.

Zuko's head reeled backward, and he fell lopsided towards the ground. Sokka was on him in an instant, more than ready to rain down more blows, but he was suddenly yanked off by a swift, unseen force. Air.

Aang had sprung up just in time and used his airbending to knock Sokka off of the injured firebender. Now he descended upon the young warrior, his staff pointed under Sokka's chin.

"That's enough, Sokka!" He commanded, his voice trembling in shock and anger. "Katara, are you okay?"

The waterbender lay sprawled on the ground, panting heavily, her eyes contorted in an expression of fear and awe. It took her a minute to process the airbender's question. "What? Yeah, I'm—I'm fine."

Toph hurried over and helped Katara rise to her feet, while Iroh was instantaneously at Zuko's side. The Fire Nation Prince leaned with one elbow in the dirt, his free hand clasped across his mouth. When he removed it to curse Sokka one more time, blood seeped from between his teeth, giving him an even more fearsome appearance.

"When I get my bending back, I swear I'll—" Zuko attempted to get up and charge the other boy, who was now being forcibly held back by all three of his friends, but Iroh grasped his arm and whipped him around to face him.

"Zuko, we need to have a talk," said the old general coldly. The serious tone of his voice was enough to make Zuko pause and forget his anger momentarily.

Iroh roughly yanked the Prince away from the others, heading towards the abandoned building that had been Zuko's prison the last few days. They entered the dusty entry way, small yellow clouds being kicked up by their hurried feet. The Prince grunted unpleasantly as his uncle discarded him onto the stony floor and began to angrily pace about the room.

"What is wrong with you, Zuko?" Iroh suddenly asked, each word like a harsh breath. "You have acted dishonorably!"

The Prince felt a twinge of deeply hidden guilt, as he always did when his uncle criticized him. He felt a warm trickle down his chin, reached up, and his fingers came a way stained in blood. His guilt was quickly swept away by anger and humiliation.

"I can't believe that filthy Water Tribe peasant dared to hit me!" He hissed.

Iroh shot the teenager another serious, dark glance. "Are you listening to me? Is this the way you're going to treat the people who have healed you, who have fed us and given us shelter?"

"I don't owe them anything!"

"Don't lie to yourself, Prince Zuko. You know very well that you would have died without their help."

Zuko was reluctant to let the truth sink in. "Well…as far as that's concerned then the only one I'm indebted to is the waterbender."

"Well maybe you could repay her by treating her friends with some respect," Iroh insisted.

"Why should I, Uncle, when they don't even treat me that way?" Zuko retorted in frustration. "They don't even treat me like a real person!"

"Have you tried acting like one?" The old man exclaimed.

Zuko spread his hands out in front of his pleadingly. "Uncle, there's no point! They'll never see something they don't want to. You heard him out there—they just want to transform me into a miniature version of my father."

"Zuko, they cannot transform you into anything unless you allow them to do so," the wise old man descended to Zuko's level, sitting and crossing his legs. "Please, Zuko—I know you have been through a lot lately. But you cannot let your anger define you. Once the Avatar and his friends learn to disassociate your past actions from you who really are, they will begin to trust you and treat you with respect."

"How do you know?" Spat the Prince bitterly.

"I speak from experience. I met the little earthbending girl while we were separated. She and I had a very good conversation and then we parted ways. It's a complete coincidence that she was traveling with the Avatar."

"So she vouched for you? And now they all suddenly trust you?"

"Yes, they do. You, however, are a different story. It will take much more effort for you to gain their trust."

"But I don't want to gain their trust!"

"Sometimes survival is not a matter of choice, Prince Zuko!" Iroh shouted so loudly the walls seemed to shake.

Zuko's angry expression suddenly morphed into one of surprise. "Survival?" he asked after a short pause. "What do you mean, uncle?"

"Azula has claims that we are traitors to our nation. She'll still be searching for us, especially since she witnessed us working with the Avatar." The old, rugged General's eyes narrowed; his face creased tensely. "Do you honestly think that right now, in your condition, that you could be a match for her? Not only are you injured, but your chakra is blocked and you cannot firebend! Azula nearly killed you once, and she will not slip up a second time!"

Zuko cast his uncle one last rebellious look, but then he hung his head low in defeat. He said nothing, but stared miserably at the floor, memorizing the cracks in the rough beige stone. They crossed and merged like creases on an ancient, callused palm. In the depths of his heart, Zuko knew that his uncle was right.

"Zuko, I know that you feel betrayed," Iroh continued, a troubled expression crossing his aged face. He extended a hand forward and gently grasped Zuko's shoulder in a reassuring gesture. "But I am only trying to protect you. The Avatar and his friends have been hospitable, and Katara is may be willing to heal you and help you regain your firebending."

"I know," replied the Fire Nation Prince.

"There is safety in numbers. If Azula is still searching for us, the Avatar can offer us protection until you're fully healed. Please, Zuko…try to understand." Zuko felt the grip on his shoulder tighten and tremble. He glanced up and was astonished to see thin, watery lines flowing down his uncle's cheeks.

"Uncle?" Zuko whispered, shocked and concerned.

"I thought I might have lost you, Zuko…just like I lost Lu Ten," Iroh whispered sorrowfully. "I know you may dislike these people we're with, but even if I have to force you to stay here and heal in order to keep you safe—"

"I understand, Uncle," Zuko interrupted. He reached up and gripped the older man's hand, holding it tightly.

Iroh's tears dried and his mouth slowly stretched into a sad smile. In a movement surprisingly swift for his age, he pulled the Prince into a strong embrace. Zuko hugged him back, his uncle's characteristic scent of dried tea leaves filling his nostrils.

"I'm sorry if I angered you, Uncle." He whispered.

The old man pressed his nephew closer, and his voice cracked with emotion. "Just promise me, Prince Zuko, that you won't leave here until you're healed. I can't stand the chance of losing you again."

Zuko scowled at the thought of remaining with the Avatar. Who knew how long it could take to completely heal and gain his bending abilities back in full? It could take months! But…he couldn't let his uncle down. The old man had been through enough. Zuko couldn't deny him this promise as a small comfort.

"I promise, Uncle." Zuko tightened the embrace, and the room filled with an eerie, solemn silence.

* * *

Outside the building, the small group of benders gathered around a solitary, seated, and seriously pissed off Sokka. Katara was pacing angrily, stomping her feet into the dusty earth. Once, the waterbender paused and glanced at her brother, then at the other two benders, and then she pressed a hand to her forehead and resumed pacing. Aang and Toph, who were somewhat shocked speechless by the events that had recently unfolded, watched her dart back and forth with uneasy eyes. Finally, Katara faced her brother, clenching her teeth as she scolded him.

"What on earth is wrong with you, Sokka?!" she yelled into the young warrior's face. "Why are you such an idiot sometimes?"

Sokka shot a heated expression in Katara's direction, but said nothing. The waterbender's words, however, seemed to snap Toph out of her speechlessness. The tiny earthbender sprung up and shoved a finger into Sokka's face."That was a really dumb move, Ponytail!" she exclaimed.

Katara acknowledged Toph's support silently, and then continued with her tirade. "I can't believe you! After Zuko was just beginning to get over his anger—you had to provoke him."

Sokka shook his head in disbelief. "_I_ provoked _him_? He's the one who said—"

"Sokka, I don't want to hear it! I don't care what Zuko did—how could you just attack him like that? That's not like you!"

Aang nodded in agreement. "Sokka, what made you so angry?"

"I don't even remember anymore!" Cried the teenager. "I just got mad and I had to hit him. I had to—for all the times he kidnapped us, for all the times he attacked us, and for all this time he's been following us! Why are you guys making me out to be the bad guy!? Zuko's the bad guy!"

Toph pondered a bit. "I don't really know the guy as well as you all do, but…he does seem pretty bad. As in 'bad attitude' bad."

"How can you label him like that?" Katara argued, placing her hands on her hips. "He's obviously been through some tough stuff during his lifetime and it's messed him up! The same could have happened to any of us!"

Sokka intensified his glare. "Why are you defending him, Katara? After all he's done to us, why are you defending him?"

"Because I've seen the pain in his eyes, Sokka! Only once, but one look was enough. Zuko has chased us all around the world. He has tried to capture us countless times. And—yes—he's unbelievably irritating—but that doesn't give you an excuse to act like a thug!" Katara hunched her shoulders, her body tense, and she huffed for a moment.

Sokka continued his angry glaring a moment longer, but then cast his eyes into the disturbed earth. Toph sat down beside him, tucking her knees under her chin. "I think what Katara's trying to say is that even though Zuko might have deserved it, pounding the heck out the guy isn't really going to solve any problems."

"Made me feel slightly better," Sokka muttered, and Toph laughed softly.

Katara's eyes narrowed, and she turned towards Aang, who was regarding them all with a somewhat absent, distant look. "Aang? Are you alright?"

The boy shook the isolated look from his eyes. "What? Yeah…it's just…"

"Just what?" Katara stared at the airbender curiously.

"Katara, I know that Zuko was hurt and that we took him in so you could heal him—I understand that we couldn't have just left him in the state he was in. The monks taught me to value all life, even that of an enemy. But now that Zuko's ability to firebend is gone…" The Avatar's eyes turned towards the waterbender, reflecting confusion and a silent plea. "…Why are we keeping him around? Can't we just let Zuko and his uncle go on their way? He's not much a threat to us now, and I don't think this arrangement is working out."

Aang watched Katara's gaze shift towards the horizon. The girl sighed heavily, and she crossed her arms stiffly in front of her chest. "I understand why you feel that way, Aang. But the thing is that Zuko isn't completely healed—his fourth chakra is blocked. And you already know that's why he can't bend anymore."

"And we care why?" Sokka inquired bitterly.

Katara shot a dagger-sharp glance at her brother. "I'm telling you why!" The waterbender's face softened and she turned towards the group of friends. "Listen—we all have heard from Iroh about how he and Zuko are now considered enemies by the Fire Nation. His own sister tried to kill him! I don't think Zuko has a lot of places to turn right now."

Toph's nose wrinkled under the ragged curtain of hair that hung above her eyes. "What's your point?"

"My point is that this is the perfect opportunity to gain a huge advantage against the Fire Lord!" Katara exclaimed, stretching out her arms towards her friends. "We can strike a deal with Zuko: If he gives up information about his father and the Fire Nation, I'll try to heal his chakra so he'll be able to firebend again."

Sokka shook his head and stood up. "Do you really think that he's going to agree to that? This is Prince Zuko we're talking about here!"

"Sokka, haven't you any idea what a great resource Zuko is? He's the Fire Lord's son! If we can make him trust us he could be one of the most powerful allies we've ever had. Not to mention wherever Zuko goes his uncle will follow. Iroh can help us too—I'm sure he knows all sorts of Fire Nation military secrets." The waterbender's eyes widened; she was excited and proud of the idea she'd just proposed.

"We'd have to keep Zuko around here—around Sokka?" Toph exclaimed doubtfully.

Aang stood aside the group and wrung his hands together anxiously. Everything in the young Avatar's mind was a blur; he was unsure of what to think. If Katara's idea worked, it would give him a tremendous advantage when it came time to face Fire Lord Ozai. But getting the fiery-tempered Prince to trust them agree to their terms would most likely be a challenge. From what Iroh had told the group about Zuko's hidden past, it seemed that the firebender remained fiercely loyal to his nation—and especially his family—despite how each had rejected him. Not to mention that Aang wasn't exactly sure if Zuko could be trustworthy either. What if he lied about important information regarding the Fire Lord or his armies?

The Avatar bit his lip, his mind wandering once more to that fateful night when Zuko had rescued him from Admiral Zhao. Granted, the others were right when they agreed that the Fire Nation Prince was considerably less dangerous now that his firebending was gone, but they had no idea about that night. Aang knew how capable Zuko was of defeating opponents fully capable of bending without flaunting his abilities at all. What if he tried to attack someone at night while they were sleeping? What if he tried to abduct one of them and deliver them to the Fire Nation? There were a million risk-filled, terrible possibilities. And just one small chance that Zuko would actually cooperate.

"Katara," Aang finally chimed in. "I understand where you're coming from, but are we sure this is worth it? Whether or not Zuko can bend, he's still capable of hurting one of us."

The waterbender regarded the boy with understanding eyes. "I know. But I think that if he really wanted to hurt us, he would have tried already."

"Did you're women's intuition tell you that?" Sokka mocked, pointing a teasing finger at his little sister.

Toph sucked in a raspy breath through her teeth, then breathed out heavily. "Yeah, Katara. I don't know if we really can place that much trust in Zuko. It just doesn't seem worth it."

Katara stared at them all for a moment, shocked that they weren't more supportive of her proposal. She cast her blue gaze down at the dry earth, nearly ready to give up the argument and agree with her friends, but then a sudden, spectacular realization popped into her head.

"Firebending!" She suddenly shouted loudly. The abrupt sound made all three of her friends jump slightly in surprise.

"Firebending?" Toph asked. "What firebending?"

Katara clenched her fists together and shook them. "Don't you guys get it? If we can strike a deal with Zuko and his uncle, not only can we gain information from them—but Aang can have a firebending teacher!"

There was silence from the trio, but they glanced at each other with questionable expressions.

"Does that make it worth it?" Katara insisted, her azure eyes pleading. "Aang? You know you have to master all the elements before you can have any chance of defeating the Fire Lord. Isn't this one of the only chances we'll get to teach you firebending?"

The Avatar's eyes blinked rapidly, and he reached up with his sleeve and wiped a thin layer of sweat from his bare brow. "Katara, I don't kno—"

"Go for it, Twinkle Toes!" Toph suddenly urged. "Sugar Queen is right. We just had two Fire Bending masters fall right into our laps and it would be plain stupid to ignore that."

Aang looked at his earthbending teacher, and then at Katara, his mind clouded with thoughts. Finally, he came to a decision. "I suppose that is a chance I can't ignore. Alright, let's do that."

Six pairs of eyes shifted and settled on Sokka. The Water Tribe warrior's gaze darted from one to another; an unhappy expression crossed his features. Finally, he threw up his hands in exasperation. "Fine, fine!" he exclaimed. "I'm outvoted."

Katara cast a small, grateful smile in her brother's direction. "We'll keep an eye on him anyway, just in case." She said.

"My thoughts exactly," the Water Tribe boy replied matter-of-factly.

Aang nodded in silent agreement. His insides were twisting up; he felt a nervous twinge deep in the pit of his stomach. He agreed with Katara's theory that the chance that Zuko or his uncle would agree to teach him to firebend was too good to pass up, but the danger of keeping Zuko around was a lot to risk. The young Avatar's gut clenched when he thought of what terrible things Zuko was capable of—even when he couldn't bend. But—despite everything he'd seen Zuko do—Aang had never actually seen Zuko hurt someone. He didn't know what to think, and that made the boy even more uneasy.

Katara had finally gotten through to her friends. She got what she wanted—and what she believed was best for Aang and his mission. But it also meant that she would have to play peacemaker between the two groups for a while longer, at least until they got used to each other's presence. The waterbender sighed. She had better begin the negotiations on the other side of the fence.

"I'm going to see if Zuko wants to have a healing session now," she casually mentioned to the others. Responding to their strange looks, she explained: "Well, he's earned it for the day, and plus it will probably help him relax a bit. I won't tell him about any of this. It's better for him that he not know about it."

"Uh…okay?" Toph called back as the dark-skinned girl turned and rushed away towards the buildings.

Katara hurried through the weeds that separated the camp from the abandoned plot of Earth Kingdom buildings, ignoring the thorns and thistles that clung to the fabric of her clothes. As far as she was concerned, convincing Aang, Sokka, and Toph had been the easy part. She wasn't looking forward to her meeting with the angry, injured, and stubborn Fire Nation Prince.

_Just another day in my life,_ Katara thought._ …Another day._

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**PERSONAL THING:**

Holy crap. This chapter took a lot of work. Lots of rewrites, careful mulling over the computer, and racking my brain for better plots. But it turned out better than I thought it would, and extra long! Sorry for every one of my readers who had to wait for this chapter—I hope it was well worth it!


	6. Trust

**Disclaimer:** I have nothing to my name! cries

**Author's Note:** Hey folks! It hasn't been long since my last post, but I'm proud to present to you the 6th chapter of "The Hurt Remains." For those of you who commented on my five-month absence, I once again apologize. I'll try not the repeat that instance, but I can make no guarantees about the frequency of my updates. I just wanted to let you all know that I appreciate every shred of continued support! virtual hugs

_For those of you who reviewed Chapter Five, I've responded to your reviews. Just scroll to the bottom, and once again thank you for your gracious compliments and continued support.

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**CHAPTER SIX**

Zuko sat solemnly on the floor, dust floating delicately around him, swirling gently with every breath. His emotion-charged uncle had left him there, likely to negotiate with the Avatar and his friends. Normally, the Fire Nation Prince would have been left feeling angry and betrayed by his uncles diplomatic efforts, but after the old man's pain-filled outburst, Zuko couldn't help but feel anything but guilt.

_All this time he's only tried to protect me,_ the teenager thought sadly. _And I've repaid him by constantly putting him down, even though he's the only person I have left._

The Prince bit his lower lip anxiously. All of this emotion flowing inside him—all the time—made him feel vulnerable and weak. Most of his life he'd been taught that emotion was a weakness; that it kept people from making correct, calculated decisions. Zuko felt that there was some logic behind this conclusion. Most of the decisions he'd made were rash and charged with emotion—and look where they'd gotten him. On the contrary, his father and sister kept their emotions hidden—if they even had any—and seemed to be the most calculated and cruel of all. The boy shook his head miserably, and ran his hands through his lengthening hair. He was so confused, but right now the person he trusted most was his uncle, and he would do what he asked.

A sound from the doorway suddenly made the firebender jump to his feet and into a defensive stance. Perhaps it was the Water Tribe boy come back for a second match. Zuko watched in growing anticipation as a blue-clad figure slid through the door and into the room, then he relaxed and sighed. It was only the female Water Tribe member—the healer—Katara.

For once, Zuko was thankful to see the girl. She was certainly a more friendly face than that of her maddening, annoying brother. And as she turned towards him, her eyes reflected concern towards the Prince. Was she worried about him? Zuko shook away the absurd thought. No, he told himself. That worrisome look was most likely her way of covering up anger. She didn't really care about him, did she? She probably didn't even care that Zuko's offended jaw was now throbbing and tender in pain. Right?

To the Prince's surprise, the waterbender didn't hesitate to collect the bowls she used for healing and to kneel in front of him. She leaned in and in a surprisingly brave move, lifted Zuko's drooping head with her fingertips and examined the side of his head—the side that Sokka had punched.

"I spoke to your uncle outside," Katara mentioned as casually as she could. "He said that he had a talk with you and that you should be better behaved from now on."

Zuko said nothing, but tried to mentally shield himself from the blows to his pride this conversation was giving him.

"I'm sorry about Sokka," the waterbender continued. "You have to understand, he's been through a lot lately—especially with the Fire Nation—and I think his way of resolving his feelings to is to attack you."

"Understand?!" Zuko suddenly hissed, leaning forward and ready to spit insults and curses from his mouth. Katara gasped quietly and yanked her hand away, as if he might try to bite it. Then, just as abruptly as he did, Zuko remembered his promise to his uncle and froze. Very slowly, he retracted his body and forced his quivering body to remain in one spot despite his anger. Taking a deep breath, and then exhaling it gradually, he regained his calm.

"Never mind," he whispered, excusing his outburst.

Katara's eyes darted hurriedly around the firebender's coiled form, but after a few moments, she seemed to calm as well. She reached with her fingertips towards his jaw line once more, but Zuko pulled away, uncomfortable with her caressing touch. The waterbender shot him a look, which he promptly ignored.

"Does it hurt?" Katara asked, pointing towards his jaw.

Zuko glanced at her for an instant, but then held his gaze and nodded slowly.

"Well, then let me fix it."

"It's not like I'm going to die from a punch," Zuko finally spoke up in his defense. "I've had worse."

Katara raised an eyebrow. "While I'm here for a healing session anyway, I might as well work on that. I don't want to hear you whining about it later."

Zuko growled softly under his breath, but permitted the waterbender to touch him again. Katara scooted closer, her fingers exploring his jaw line, searching for tender, swollen tissue. She found the spot where Sokka's fist hand made contact, and pressed.

"Ow!" Zuko roared, and he scurried away across the floor, a hand pressed to his head. "What did you do that for?"

"I'm sorry, sorry!" Katara extended her hands pleadingly before her. "Zuko—really—I'm just trying to help."

"Argh…I know," Zuko admitted. He removed his hand from the side of his head and wiped his mouth, then began to move back towards the waterbender. Katara noticed a thin line of blood drawn across the top his palm.

"You're bleeding," she said, alarmed.

Zuko glanced at his palm and wiped the corners of his mouth again and again, until both were free of blood. "I think when your idiot brother punched me I bit my tongue."

"Badly?"

"No. I'll be fine."

"What about your jaw? It's swollen."

"It'll be fine."

"I'll heal it."

"Fine."

Katara gave the firebender a strange look. Sure, she'd had a small conversation outside with General Iroh and learned that Zuko would be more willing to cooperate from now on, but she had thought that this was simply the old man's unfailing optimism speaking for him. Now, it seemed that whatever Iroh had told Zuko had had a big impact on the Prince. Already, the waterbender sensed from him a sort of willingness to work with her, and a resistance to argue.

"Lay down. We'll do a full session, so this may take a while." Katara commanded softly, and remarkably, the Prince obeyed without a word. His expression on his face, however, betrayed his calm behavior. He was obviously unhappy.

Katara emptied her water skin and filled the two bowls with fresh water, all of the while watching the firebender's sad glowering at the ceiling. She dipped her hands into the nearest bowl and began to concentrate her energy. All she could hear was Zuko's shallow, controlled breathing. In the near silence it didn't take her long to achieve the energy level needed for healing. The familiar buzzing sensation and glowing swept over her hands, and she withdrew them from the water, pausing before she reached towards the Fire Nation Prince.

Katara was nervous again. This was the first healing session she'd given Zuko since he'd been given his shirt, and she'd thought she'd be more comfortable with it. But it seemed her anxious feelings would not subside—shirt or not. Either way she felt awkward giving the firebender his watery massage.

After several uncomfortable moments, Katara finally spoke, preparing both herself and the boy in lying in front of her for their uncomfortable contact. "This is going to feel cold. And tell me if anything hurts."

Zuko didn't respond vocally, but instead simply closed his yellow eyes.

_Good,_ Katara breathed. _It's much easier with him not looking at me the entire time._

The first spot Katara decided to focus on was Zuko's injured jaw. It was the most recent injury, and was probably not fully developed yet, so in theory it would be easiest to heal. Cautiously, she reached out and pressed the palm of her hand against Zuko's cheek.

The waterbender watched has the firebender's face grimaced as the cold made contact with his warm skin, but he relaxed as the healing set in. Amazingly, Katara thought she could feel the blood beating through the skin surrounding the swelling. She gently adjusted her hand, feeling the wound and gauging where the most healing would be needed. Zuko made no noise, no protest.

Then, suddenly, she felt the Prince move. But it wasn't a sudden, abrupt move that signaled for her to spring up and run out of the room. It was a gradual, gentle pressure against the palm of her healing hand. She glanced down, and was astonished to see Prince Zuko _leaning into her touch_.

_He likes it,_ Katara thought, puzzled. Then her mind began to wander further. _What__ does he like about it?_

Katara gazed back down at the firebender's face. His expression hadn't changed. Maybe he wasn't even aware he was doing this. But it certainly was awkward. Katara wasn't sure that she wanted to touch the Fire Nation Prince in a way he might actually enjoy.

Despite her worries, the waterbender continued with the healing process. Gradually, she worked the swelling from Sokka's punch down to a small bump. She gauged that Zuko would be able to live with that, and it would heal quickly enough. She then moved downward, towards the firebender's chest. Underneath his green shirt she knew there was an ugly star-shaped wound, it's tendrils of pain reaching through flesh and bone, wrecking havoc on the young man's very life force. The waterbender pressed her glowing palms facedown on the wound, and suddenly Zuko's body stiffened—only for a moment. Katara let out a mental sigh of relief. She was unsure of what sort of little trigger could set Zuko of on one of his rage-filled, vengeful tirades.

Despite her nervousness, Katara watched silently as the firebending Prince's body relaxed again at her touch. The girl watched Zuko's face for a moment longer, and then she closed her eyes. Her concentration deepened; her healing power strengthened—and she pushed her essence through the wound and into the swirling pools of energy inside Zuko's body.

Katara had fully immersed herself in the process now. She felt her energy leave her own body and enter Zuko's, mingling with his own chi. Their reaction wasn't physical or chemical—it was something more ethereal, but Katara could feel it clearly, and she was pretty aware that Zuko could feel it too. The thought of their essence interacting like this made Katara momentarily uncomfortable—but she brushed the feeling away and focused on healing once more.

She pressed her energy forward, towards the chakra that was blocked. If she was to heal the internal wound Azula had dealt her brother, Katara meant to explore it first. She knew very little about chakras and how they worked, and she didn't want to end up doing more harm than good if she made a mistake. Tendrils of her energy snaked through Zuko's veins, towards the beating center of his body. Katara felt his heart thumping in a soft, slow rhythm.

_Good, he's relaxed._ Katara thought to herself.

A second later, Katara felt her energy grind to a sudden halt. It was the same barrier she had hit a few days before, but this time she had the advantage of knowing exactly what it was. Her chi hadn't been able to reach Zuko's throbbing, vital organ. His heart was just beyond her reach.

Curious and eager to experiment with this strange phenomenon, Katara deeped her focus on the chakra barrier. Energy swirled and reacted inside Zuko's body. Katara increased her pressure on the barrier gradually, creating a thick wall with her own chi use as a sort of traction. Yet nothing moved, and she felt no progress.

Katara paused for a moment to ponder. _What am I doing wrong? Is there even a right way to do this?_

There were so many questions she could ask, but she found no answers—both her own knowledge and the energy inside Zuko's body failed her.

_Wait!_ The waterbender suddenly had a revelation. _Maybe…_

Katara pushed a single, spindly tendril of chi out and towards Zuko's fourth chakra. It wandered for a moment in the swirling pool of energy, but then extended forward and gently rested its tip against the barrier. Katara pushed gently. The spiny end of her energy quivered with the stress, but it didn't puncture the impending wall surrounding the firebender's heart.

_Harder…_Katara urged.

She gradually increased her pressure. Despite the fact that she wasn't physically straining herself, Katara felt a droplet of sweat drip from her forehead. She ignored the tickling feeling as it tiny bead of salty water crept slowly down her cheek, and concentrated. She pressed harder.

Suddenly, like the prick of a pin, her energy punctured the block in Zuko's chakra—ever so slightly. The second it did, she felt Zuko's body rock in sudden shock, her eyes sprung open, and just in time she saw the Prince's hand spring up and grasp her own on top of his chest. The firebender's face was an ugly, pain-filled grimace. Katara immediately feared that he might rip into another temper tantrum. She braced herself, but remarkably, it never happened.

"Please…please, don't do that again," Zuko pleaded, his eyes closed tightly and his hand tightening his grip around Katara's. "Don't..."

Katara was shocked, confused, and alarmed—all at the same time. "Zuko…?" she choked out, releasing her hands from his grasp and leaning over him.

"Don't do that again," Zuko repeated. His eyes popped open and he seemed to regain a shred of his former self as he glared into Katara's eyes. "Whatever you did, don't do it again!"

"What? Why?" Katara retorted.

The firebender sat up and clutched a palm protectively over his wound. "Because…" he breathed, "…it just felt wrong."

The girl raised a skeptical eyebrow.

"Listen, I don't know what you did—but don't do it again."

"Zuko, I don't know of any other way to help you! You're chakra is fully blocked—I thought I could push through it—or puncture it."

"I don't care. Find another way. That didn't feel right."

Katara felt her temper begin to flare. "What exactly happened that you didn't like, Zuko?"

The firebender's eyes flared brightly at her, but then cast their gaze away. Zuko's lips formed a thin red line and refused to answer. Katara's anger threatened to boil over, but she made self-control a priority and swallowed her impending verbal attack on the stubborn Prince.

"Alright, you don't have to tell me," she forced the words from her mouth slowly. "We'll be done for today. But I'm not promising that I won't do whatever I just did now again."

"What?"

"Zuko, I don't know how else to go about this! You're chakra is blocked and the only thing I can try to do is to diminish it with my own energy! If you don't let me do that—just because it 'didn't feel right'—then I can't help you anymore."

The firebender bristled noticeably, but his eyes darted around the room worriedly. "What if you do something worse than what's already happened to me? What if you accidentally kill me with that experimental water trick of yours?"

Katara shook her head. "Zuko, you're going to have to trust me."

Zuko's eyes connected with the waterbender's own, and he bravely leaned in close. Katara tried her best not the flinch or free herself of his harrowing stare as the firebender cocked his head to the side curiously.

"Would you trust me?" Zuko asked softly.

Katara rolled her eyes. "Stop it," she said. "This isn't about me."

The firebender smirked characteristically. "You wouldn't," he concluded. "So why should I trust you?"

"Because right now I'm all you've got," Katara retorted with a scowl.

Zuko's smirk faded away in an instant, but he didn't seem angry at her remark. Instead he leaned back again, allowing the waterbender to breathe a quiet sigh of relief. "I'm still not sure if I trust you with my chakra though," the Prince insisted, turning away from her.

"Oh, please!" Katara finally let some of her frustration fly out of her mouth. "You want to trust me—otherwise you wouldn't still be here!"

Zuko's eyes darkened and slowly turned back towards Katara, who challenged the glare with her own. There was a moment of stillness and silence between the two, but suddenly Zuko lunged forward, and Katara gasped loudly, but didn't scream. The Prince's hand closed around her arm tightly, jerking her forward, their faces almost touching. Katara felt Zuko's breath shivering against the skin of her cheek—but she still didn't scream, or struggle against him. She could only stare into his golden eyes in shock.

"You think I'm the one who wants to trust? But I think it's the other way around." Zuko asked her, his voice low and dangerous. "If you didn't trust me, you would have screamed already."

He released Katara from his grip, but neither one of them pulled away. Katara stared into the Prince's eyes, searching for some sort of answer. "But if you know that I already trust you, how come you're not exploiting it?" she inquired breathlessly.

"Because you're all I've got," Zuko replied, and then he stood up and walked out silently.

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**PERSONAL THINGY: **So…we had some interesting interaction between Katara and Zuko in this chapter! SEKSHUWAL TENSHUN!! Just kidding. Be on the lookout for symbolism if you read it again—I'm particularly proud about that detail. Well, I've stayed up very late to finish this (it's about 2am here in the Midwest) and I'd better start with my reader responses:

**Ell25:** Congrats on being the first reviewer! Thank you for your gracious compliments. I agree with you that Zutara fics should require an allotted slot of time and some sort of character development before the romance can begin. Otherwise it makes Zuko and Katara seem out-of-character and the author seem lazy. Can't have that! Hope you liked this chapter as much as the rest of the story. Thanks again!

**Heihachi-Katayama: **Thanks for your reassurance. I'm glad my story is worth a five month wait. I makes me feel like J.K. Rowling, with Harry Potter fanatics drooling year round for the next book to come out…well, not really. But I am very grateful for your continued support! Much love!

**Charizardaq:** Thanks! It's always nice to hear the word "awesome" in a positive review! I'll definitely try to keep the awesome quotient up as long as humanly possible! Thanks again!

**LordRevanGrandMaster…:** I appreciated your review immensely. You know, I really don't like Aang either, but since he's the star of the series, I can't simply leave him out of the story. I'm glad, however, that my views towards him don't seem to alter his characterization. Oh…and no, I'm pretty determined not to drop this story. I thought about it for a while but suddenly got re-inspired. So here we are! Thanks for your continued support!

**Chrystal Inferno:** Mon ami! I'm glad you enjoyed the last chapter so much! I hope you liked this one equally as much. I'm glad that I've gotten over the everyone-hates-each-other-phase and gotten into the section of the story where I can really develop a relationship between Zuko and Katara. I don't know if they'll discuss their mothers much though…although that's an interesting prospect. I'll definitely think about it. Thanks for your suggestions and continued support!

**FireChildSlytherin5: **Thanks for the warm welcome-back wishes! I appreciate your compliments and your continued support! Thanks again!

**Bells of Requiem: **Thank you for your gracious observations and compliments. I took your advice to heart and proof-read this chapter, so I hope that it doesn't have as many mistakes as the last chapters. Don't want you to become distracted from the story, you know! I'm really happy to hear that you think my portrayal of the characters is accurate. I really take pride in the accuracy of my characterization, so whenever someone comments positively on it, I really appreciate it. Thank you. Oh—and thanks for the offer about being a beta reader, but I've never felt the need to use one. I appreciate the kind offer though. Thanks again for everything!

**ML7: **Hello faithful! Thanks for the warm welcome back. Don't worry, I'm not a fan of making anyone go insane in this story. To me, making a character go insane is a kind of laziness—a way to give the audience an explanation for their actions without much work. So there shouldn't be much of that here. And as you can see here, Zuko's attitude is slowly changing for the better. Thanks for all your kind comments and continued support!

**NorthernLights25: **Wish granted! Thanks for your review!

**Anawey: **Thanks for understanding that creating a great story takes a lot of time and effort. It's great to have your support and to receive your compliments. I'm going to update as soon as I can, as soon as I get each chapter written. Thanks again!

**Kildiazar the Unwanted…: **You liked Zuko without his firebending? Thanks! It's funny, I actually didn't intend to add that detail until I actually wrote the story—it just popped up in my mind and I had to go with it. Now it's a major basis for the rest of the plot. Funny how that works, isn't it? Thanks for your compliments, I really appreciate it!

**Dontwaitupxx: **Thanks for your forgiveness. I'm glad you like the conflict between Zuko and Sokka. You're right—it's just perfect that way! I'll try to get the next chapters up sooner than five months from now…but no promises! I'm a busy bee these days. Thanks very much for everything!

**PinkBlue Moonlight: **I'm still unsure about how I'm going to finish this fic. That's why I take so long to update sometimes…because I don't have any ideas for how the story should go on. But I think I'm over my writers block and you shouldn't have to wait as long for an update next time. As for the ending, I'm not keen as making this story follow the plot all the way to the end of the series, so it's probably going to have an alternate ending and maybe an epilogue. Thanks for your review!

**Harlequin Jade:** Thanks for your compliments! I hope you liked this chapter as much as the last. I'll try and keep updating regularly! Thanks again!

**Aya-Shoru: **Thanks for your compliments. As you can see, I did write more, and I plan to for at least a few more chapters until the story is finished. I hope you continue to enjoy it! Thanks again!


	7. Crush

Disclaimer: I own nothing

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing. But you already know that!

**Author's Note: **I would like to issue a giant _**THANK YOU**_ to all of my reviewers today! Thanks to you, I have successfully broken _**100 REVIEWS**_! Thanks so much for your continued support. I'm working really hard to try and keep working on this story despite my busy, busy schedule. Thanks for making it worth my while! Love ya!

PS: Reader responses are below! Enjoy!

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**CHAPTER 7**

The next few days were strange, and seemed to drag by like rocks across desert sand. The air in their deserted haven was dry; it parched lips and carved away at the ancient landscape. The sun blazed down hot and unforgiving rays of sun, and soon the six outsiders began to take shelter in the abandoned buildings, hiding in the coolness of the shadows. Progressively each day grew more sweltering than the next. Summer was looming.

Although the weather was miserable, one thing had noticeably improved among the small tribe of outcasts: Zuko clearly was putting effort into cooperating with everyone, although it must have been difficult for him. The young Prince's pride had been bruised, but he understood now that acting defiant towards the rest of them would cause him more angst. Iroh was visibly pleased every time his nephew offered to help someone, although the firebender's choice of people was limited. Zuko hardly bothered to glance at Sokka, and when the two teens did happen to meet eyes, Katara could practically see the tiny daggers shooting between them. The boys did manage to avoid crossing paths, however, and although the air was tense when Sokka and Zuko were within proximity, the others didn't worry very much about them having a second altercation. Katara and General Iroh had made it clear enough that more violence wasn't going to be tolerated.

Toph had been uncomfortable around the firebending Prince at first; wrinkling her nose in confusion when he asked her if she wanted more of Iroh's homemade tea and throwing the firebender questionable looks as he worked to maintain their tiny campsite. But after a few days she seemed used to Zuko's continued presence, and now she only offered the Prince a snarky remark once in a while.

The relationship forming between Aang and the Fire Prince seemed the strangest. The two boys didn't exactly avoid each other; they seemed to pretend the other didn't exist. Katara imagined that they both felt awkward around each other, and she often spied them stealing suspicious glances at each other from across the campfires they lit each night.

What was most surprising to Katara was the amount of attention Zuko seemed to shower on her, of all people. She was the one he most often approached to offer his help, and he never was late for a healing session. In fact, after the first few days he began to show up early, quietly seating himself on the floor inside the designated abandoned building and meditating in silence until Katara arrived. His behavior both dazzled and confused the waterbender, and it took her a while to figure out that the reason he acted this way was because she and Zuko had somehow established a sort of trust, despite the odd, anxious feelings that stretched between them. Katara was sympathetic towards Zuko and his injury, and he appeared grateful to receive her help, although he didn't vocalize it.

Although she was grateful for Zuko's somewhat uncertain trust, Katara couldn't help but feel strange…and even embarrassed by his attention. Ever since that day he and Sokka fought, Zuko had acted differently. And Katara knew that she felt differently about him. She couldn't pin down her thoughts, but she was certain that when Zuko had grabbed her arm and pulled her close that day, some feeling clenched her heart that transcended the usual fear. She couldn't yet put a finger on it, but she prayed that Zuko and the others didn't notice.

A week passed by slowly in the heated springtime sun. Then another. And then came the day where Katara felt that she might be ready again to try and breach the block in Zuko's chakra. She didn't bother to ask if he was ready for it; she just entered his body and pushed with all the energy she had.

She felt her cool energy rush into the firebender's warm flesh, flooding his veins and muscles with chi. Spindly fingers of it curled and uncurled in the place where Zuko's chakra was blocked. Just beyond the block was his heart. The waterbender felt the swollen organ pumping quickly as she worked on the Prince. She paused, and then thought a moment. Usually Zuko became so relaxed when she did a healing session.

_Is he nervous about something?_ She wondered.

The waterbender dismissed the fleeting thought and gathered her energy near Zuko's chakra. And then she shot out a sharp jab of chi into the barrier. Suddenly, Katara felt a very odd sensation—it felt like…like the energy was resisting her somehow. The waterbender barely had time to register this phenomenon, however, because Zuko's reaction was predictable and immediate.

"Ah!" Zuko cried suddenly, his body rocking up off the floor. He sat up quickly and pushed the waterbender's hands away. "I thought I told you never to do that to me again!" he exclaimed angrily. "Are you deaf?!"

Katara pressed her lips together and adopted a steely glance. "So you'd rather go without your bending, then?"

The Prince growled. "You know that's not what I want!"

"Well then let me help you!" Katara urged, reaching towards him again. Zuko shot her a dirty look and shifted away across the floor, his yellow eyes glowing in the soft shadows.

"Zuko," the waterbender sighed tiredly. "I told you that you have to trust me with this. I can't reach your heart chakra without penetrating that barrier."

The firebender's eyes flared even more brightly for an instant, but then they glanced away towards a darkened corner. Zuko curled up into a protective ball, and silence fell over the two teenagers. The only sound the waterbender could hear was their collective breathing.

Katara crossed her arms angrily and huffed, then glanced briefly at Zuko. In the split second her eyes lightly grazed his features, she noticed the firebender's clenched jaw, his mouth curved downward, and his brow upward. He looked worried, or slightly afraid.

Or maybe—he was both.

Katara cocked her head and glared at Zuko, the gears in her brain turning. "You're fighting me," she realized.

The firebender's head snapped up and his eyes burned holes into the back of Katara's skull. "No I'm not!" Zuko insisted, his eyes narrowing in suspicion.

"Yes, you are!"

"No…no, I'm not." The Prince's denials were getting weaker.

"You are!" Katara insisted again, slamming a palm onto the dusty floor. "You are fighting me! I felt it! I felt your energy push back!"

The Prince once again fell silent, proof of his obvious guilt. He frowned grimly and his eyes slid solemnly to the floor. Katara watched him observantly; his fingers clenched and unclenched the fabric of his clothing, and the tiny, tender muscles in Zuko's face twitched. His yellow eyes seemed to glow among the shifting shadows that covered his face. Finally, after several minutes of suffering in silence, Zuko turned his head and spoke gently.

"I can't let you in," He whispered. "I can't let anybody in."

Katara's azure eyes narrowed in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"Nevermind, it's stupid." The firebender huffed and turned his back on her.

Katara let out an exasperated sigh, then gathered her robes and stomped over to the corner where Zuko was sulking. The Prince glanced at her approaching him, and his eyes grew wide as Katara placed a gentle hand on his shoulder. The Prince could feel the warmth from her palm on his skin, but suddenly he felt uncomfortable. He brushed her hand away.

"Zuko," Katara pleaded with her palms outstretched towards him. "For the last time…I can't help you if you won't let me! What's wrong?"

Zuko frowned deeply, his forehead creasing with a worried expression, but he didn't allow any words to escape his lips. His eyes flashed up at the waterbending girl one more time, but they held less fire in them than before.

Katara gently reached out to touch him one more time. She cautiously rested her palm on his back, and Zuko stiffened a bit. But this time he didn't brush her hand away. Katara looked at him beseechingly.

"Zuko, I thought we had established some kind of trust between us." She said softly and slowly. "You can tell me."

"It's none of your business."

Katara threw her hands up in the air; her patience could only stretch so thin. "What is wrong with you?!" She yelled in frustration. "You are the most infuriating person I've ever met! I let you not tell me what you didn't like about this before, but now we need to figure it out so I can heal you! Why won't you tell me?!"

The fire in Zuko's eyes returned, and he faced her, growling fiercely. "Listen, you might be trying to heal me and all, and—yes—I'm grateful for that, but this isn't a sleepover! I'm not going to sit here and giggle and tell you all of my secrets, okay?"

"What's such a huge secret?" Katara replied, her blue eyes burning. "Are you afraid of something? Because you're acting like it!"

"I am not!"

Katara rolled her eyes and scoffed. "Please! I felt your heart beating a million miles a minute just a second ago, you're not letting me touch you, and now you're becoming all defensive."

"Well, congratulations!" Zuko mocked. "You've got me all figured out! Can we move on, please?!"

"No, we can't!" Katara replied angrily. "Because the only thing I can't figure out about you is _why_ you're acting so weird!"

The waterbender and the Fire Prince sat facing each other, their bodies tense, and their energies rippling around them. Golden fires clashed with azure seas as their eyes locked, and each one tried to intimidate the other with their harsh glares. Their silent standoff lasted only a minute, until Katara—anticipating that strange feeling creeping in her veins again—finally backed down.

"Fine," she sighed. "Let's make a deal."

Zuko's gaze dimmed, but he raised a curious eyebrow. "What do you mean?" he asked suspiciously.

"If you tell me something personal, then I'll reciprocate."

"You'll tell me something about yourself?"

"Whatever you ask," Katara nodded.

Zuko exhaled sharply between his teeth. "What could I possibly want to learn about you?"

Katara blinked in surprise and shot an offended glare at the firebender. "Are you implying that I'm not interesting?"

"No, I'm just observant." Zuko crossed his arms and smirked at her proudly.

"That doesn't mean you automatically know everything about me!"

"Try me."

Katara easily took the bait. "Fine. Tell me something I don't know about myself."

Zuko paused for a moment, the smirk disappearing from his face. Thoughtfully, he looked over Katara's form over and over, until his eyes finally rested on the necklace tied delicately around her neck. The glimmering, expertly carved sea-stone hung just above Katara's collarbone, bobbing from left to right whenever the waterbender gracefully moved.

"Your necklace," Zuko finally answered. "It's your most cherished possession. It belonged to your mother, and I'm guessing that you have it because she's probably dead."

Katara gasped, shocked at the sudden, painful proposition. Then she grew angry. "That's cheating! I already knew that, and you already knew that this necklace belonged to my mother!"

"But am I right about the other part?"

"Shut up!" Katara retreated a few feet, and curled her knees up to her chest. "You're being an insensitive jerk, and it's none of your business."

Zuko grinned, leaned forward and pointed a finger towards the waterbender. "Oh, I see! When it's _my_ business you're digging into, it's awful of me to try and hide things from you. But when it's _your_ business, it's suddenly off limits. I get it."

Katara opened her mouth to protest, but she couldn't find any words to defend her case. Then her eyes grew wide in surprise. "You manipulated me!" she realized. "You always do this!"

The waterbender pointed her own finger towards the Prince and continued her tirade. "Every time I try to understand you—the real you—you turn it around on me!"

Zuko gave her a quizzical look. "And this matters how?"

"It's your defense mechanism!" "Because you are afraid of something!" Katara gasped and smiled as more and more of the truth dawned on her. "You're fighting me because you don't want me to remove the blockage around your heart…because…you don't want to let me in. You don't let anybody in!"

Zuko's cockiness disappeared as Katara repeated his earlier words, but the waterbender continued relentlessly. "You've been hurt by so many people—even your sister—that I don't blame you for being afraid."

"I'm not afraid—"

"Don't deny it, Zuko!" Katara interrupted. "I've told you so many times—I'm not going to hurt you with my waterbending. Water is a naturally healing element."

"That's not what I meant!" Zuko retorted, his eyes casting their gaze away from her in shame. "I'm not afraid of being hurt physically. It's happened so many times that I'm…well, I'm kind of used to physical pain by now."

Katara watched as Zuko placed a hand over the wound on his chest. "So you're afraid of another kind of pain?" She inquired.

Zuko's golden eyes turned on her; his gaze was intense. "A heart struck by lightening might hurt for a while, but a heart that is broken never heals. The hurt remains."

"So what does that have to do with you resisting me?"

Zuko's eyes ripped away from Katara. "I'm not sure."

"What do you mean, you're not sure?"

"I'm beginning to trust you," Zuko told her softly.

Katara dropped her head and groaned in exasperation. Getting to know the Fire Prince was like chipping away at the base of a mountain with a tiny chisel. "That's not bad!" she said. "How is you finally trusting me bad? That means that we're finally ready to—"

"It _is_ bad!" Zuko insisted. "It's different with you! I'm beginning to trust you, and normally I'd be afraid of that—because almost everyone I trusted in my life has hurt me—but I'm not! I feel differently about you, and _that's_ what's making me afraid!"

Embarrassed by his sudden spurt of honesty, the Prince abruptly stood up and stomped past Katara towards the door. Katara's eyes followed him, and then suddenly—almost involuntarily—her hand shot out and grasped his. Zuko stopped in his tracks and snapped his head around to glare at the waterbender in surprise.

"Wait," Katara breathed, sensing the awkwardness of the moment. "That still doesn't explain why your energy is rejecting mine."

Zuko's eyes burned into her, but he didn't jerk his hand away. The golden orbs darted from Katara's face to their intertwining fingers and back again. Finally, after a long, heavy sigh, Zuko took back his hand and turned towards her.

Katara stood up, and Zuko glanced away from her as her gaze rose to meet his. "Listen," he explained firmly. "I can't become close to you, physically or otherwise. All of this your-energy-mingling-with-mine stuff has got my head messed up."

"That's your explanation?" Katara asked in disbelief, pulling her hand away abruptly. "What—are you afraid that we might become friends or something?"

"Friends?!" The firebender scoffed for a moment, but then his eyes became sad, and Zuko turned his head to hide them from the waterbender. "We couldn't ever be friends."

Katara blinked in surprise. "What? Why not?"

"Look at us!" Zuko pointed towards Katara, then himself. "Water and fire—two entirely different elements. We're not supposed to mix. It's no wonder that all this energy-mixing is making me crazy! It's just unnatural!"

"I don't see the big deal," Katara arued, placing her hands on her hips. "Sure, our elements are different, but even with our bending—we're still two people."

The Fire Prince squeezed his eyes tightly shut for a moment, but then directed his fiery gaze at the waterbending girl. "Why would you want to be friends with me?"

"Because, well…" Katara began to speak, but then paused. Zuko watched her patiently with his intense, stormy eyes of his, silent as her thoughts raced.

Zuko's own thoughts flashed to the fragments of the past—some so distant he barely could conjure them. But most recently, he recalled awakening in a dark forest, with a nasty bump on his head and the Avatar at his side. Months ago, under the canopy of ancient forests, Aang had asked him almost the same question that Katara was asking him now. The Fir Prince frowned at the memory, and then he felt a sudden touch on his arm. Glancing up quickly, he saw Katara had stepped forward and stretched her arm towards him. The tips of her delicate fingers brushed against his bare skin, and for some untold reason Zuko's mind was scrambled the moment he realized she was touching him. He stared at the waterbender dumbly, confused by his own feelings.

"I don't really know why," Katara began once more, her eyes fixed on a crack stretching between the two teenagers on the stone floor. "But I think it has less to do with me wanting a friend and more with you _needing_ a friend, Zuko."

The firebender blinked uncomfortably. He didn't like how intimate this conversation was becoming, and he didn't know how to respond. So Zuko stood silently, watching Katara's fingers as they moved, crawling from the flesh on his arm to the fabric of his sleeve, and from there to the collar of his shirt.

"I can be your friend, Zuko. But only if you let me." Katara continued as she gently placed her palm against Zuko's face. She could feel the roughness of his scar beneath her fingertips, and she was astonished at her own boldness. But something inside her—maybe it was that same odd feeling she couldn't identify—was giving her the courage to face the Prince like this.

Katara glanced briefly up at Zuko, anticipating his reaction to her soft touch. But Zuko wasn't looking at her with contempt, or rage, or any other predictable emotion. His eyes bore deeply into hers, confusion and wonder crossing his features.

Suddenly the door to the room slammed open, and both benders inside snapped their heads up to gape at the intruders. Iroh and Toph stood in the doorway, the young earthbender peering from behind the Fire Nation Generals round torso, a surprisingly intense look on her face. Katara noticed the looks on their faces as they peeked into the small space, and she hastily withdrew her palm from Zuko's face.

"Toph and I were just coming to tell you that it is time for dinner," announced Iroh merrily. Then he threw the two teenagers a quizzical look. "You're healing session was taking an unusually long time today."

Katara and Zuko both glanced at each other, blinked, and then back again at the two forms in the doorway. Katara took a few small steps backward, distancing herself from Zuko and gathering herself within a more comfortable radius. Zuko looked back towards the old man in the doorway.

"We were just finishing, Uncle," the firebender explained rationally, and without a second glance at Katara, Zuko slipped past her towards the exit.. "Do you need me to help you with anything?"

Zuko seemed to have remained unscathed by the sudden intrusion, but Katara stood dumbly in the same spot, grasping her hands together in front of her heart. Toph walked in, her eyebrows lowered in suspicion.

"Are you okay?" The earthbender asked. The manner of the question was overshadowed by her condescending tone.

Katara adopted a defensive glare. "Of course I am. Why wouldn't I be?"

Toph paused in front of her, raising one eyebrow quizzically. Then, suddenly, the earthbender bent down her tiny frame and placed her hand down on the stone floor. "I can feel your heart racing," she said matter-of-factly. "Something is wrong."

"What?" The waterbender was confused.

"Listen, you already know that I can see through vibrations in the ground," Toph sighed dramatically. "The human body is no different. It vibrates with every heartbeat and every breath, and I could feel it through the stone floor as I passed by the room just a few minutes ago. That's why I came and brought Iroh."

"What did you _think_ we were doing in here?" The waterbender challenged..

"What _were_ you doing?"

"We—we were just trying a new technique for healing." Katara's voice sputtered as she lied, but she stood steadfastly and crossed her arms stubbornly.

"Oh, really—what technique is that?" The tiny green-clad girl scoffed, planting her hands on her hips. "The kissy-face technique?"

The waterbender's jaw dropped in astonishment. "Toph! Do you actually think that Zuko and I—were in here—doing _that_? That's crazy!"

"Hey—I've only been with you guys a few weeks, and I've already seen enough crazy things to believe almost anything. Oh, and I should tell you in advance—I can also feel the physical reaction when people lie, so don't try that either." Toph smirked proudly.

Katara bit her lip in frustration, and then sighed heavily as she allowed some part of the truth to slip out. "Well, you're still wrong. Zuko and I were not—_kissing_—we were having an argument."

"What, did you guys break up?" replied the earthbender teasingly.

Katara growled under her breath. "Toph—you've got it all wrong! Listen, we were arguing, because I'm trying to get him to trust me without fearing it—and he was resisting my healing techniques—but I was trying to help him—and it was just confusing!"

"So you didn't make kissy-face with Zuko?"

"No!"

"Okay, good." Toph said, and then tilted her head back towards the waterbender. "But then why all the fluttering heartbeats?"

Katara searched her feelings in vain, her blue eyes floating up towards the ceiling, then descending again towards the floor. She bit her lip nervously. "I don't know," she finally admitted. "Zuko said something about our energies mixing during healing sessions, and how it's messing with his mind—maybe the same thing is happening to me."

"Oh. Weird."

Without another word, Toph rolled her sightless eyes and turned towards the door, stomping her way out into the afternoon sunlight. After a moment's hesitation, Katara chased after the earthbender, questions eager to spill from her lips.

"Toph," she pleaded quietly. "You're not going to tell anyone, right? I'm not sure what's going on between Zuko and I, but I know I can't figure it out if Sokka or Aang are breathing down my neck the entire time."

The other girl paused for a moment and regarded her friend. Then Toph sighed heavily. "Alright," she groaned. "I'll keep my mouth shut—but for a price."

"What's that?" Katara inquired suspiciously.

"How's not having to do my chores for as long as this goes on?" The earthbender grinned, delighted by the thought.

Katara frowned; this was typical of Toph. "Fine," she reluctantly agreed. "I'll do your chores for the time being."

"Sweet!" The little earthbender celebrated, pumping her fists in the air. Toph then bounced away, in the direction of the campsite, with Katara watching after her spitefully.

"Oh, and Katara?" Toph spun around, one finger stretched towards the sky.

Katara sighed. "Yes, Toph?"

"That little thing that going on between you and Zuko? That's called a _crush_. Just thought I'd let you." The tiny earthbending girl shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly, adopted a devious smile, and then happily trotted off—leaving a gawking, shocked Katara in her wake.

* * *

**PERSONAL THING:**

I realized just now that my entire fanfiction is composed of healing sessions. Is that bad? I don't know, but that's how my story is evolving…so I hope you liked. Now—finally—the warm fuzzies are flowing between Zuko and Katara! Yayness! Warm fuzzies for everyone!

**Ell25:** I know! Actually, it seems that my whole story is being constructed out of healing sessions! But I'm glad you like it. I'm trying to develop the characters as best I can, and stay loyal to their portrayals in the show. Thanks for all your compliments!

**Pepipanda: **Yay! I loved your long review! Thanks for all your positive comments on the different parts of the last chapter—I'd love to see a similar review of this chapter too! I'm glad you liked the conversation at the end about trust, because it's expanded in this chapter. You'll see now that Katara and Zuko have established in an initial trust with each other, but they're wary of their feelings and unsure of what to do next. I hope you liked it! Thanks for all of your great compliments; I am so inspired by them! Thanks again!

**DangerousDiamondDarling:** Thanks for your compliments! I hope you keep reading! Thanks again!

**Anawey:** I'm so glad you liked the interaction between Zuko and Katara in the last chapter. I hope you liked their interactions here just as much. And I'm not sure how breaking through the chakra hurts Zuko—but it does somehow. I'll figure out how to fix Zuko in future chapters! Thanks for all your continued support and compliments!

**Burnin4Christ: **Thanks, I'm glad you liked! I hope you'll like this chapter just as much! Thanks again!

**ML7: **Thanks for another warm welcome back, ML7! Boy, I'm sure grateful that I have you as a reviewer. I'm glad you liked the last chapter, and I'm hoping you'll have similar feelings for this one. Katara and Zuko will definitely be doing more exploring—not necessarily their chi though—emotional stuff and all that jazz. Thanks again for your continued support!

**Empty-spaces: **I'm amazed by all the positive reviewing I'm getting about Zuko being greatly affected by Iroh's little intervention! Thanks very much, and I hope you liked the interaction between Katara ad Zuko just as much in this chapter!

**Georgia Taylor: **Thanks for your compliments and I hope liked this chapter too! Thanks again!

**Dontwaitupxx: **You have a story too? Ooh! I'll have to read it. I'm really itching for some good Avatar stories, but I'm picky and I can't seem to find any that I really, really like—got any suggestions? LOL. I'm sorry for stealing your reviewers! I'm sure they're just on temporary loan…Oh, and although I'm crazy busy with my final year of college and everything, I'm really making a huge effort to try and update at least once a month—so hopefully there won't be anymore five-month hiatuses…Thanks so much for your continued support and I hope you liked this chapter!

**Chrystal Inferno: **LOL! I loved your last review! Go ahead, say it—their spiritual energies mingling can be seen as an allegory for sex! I didn't even realize that! Well, you're in luck, because there's a whole lot more of that energy mixing mumbo-jumbo being discussed in this chapter. I hope it entertains you!

Dude! I know! All that Zutara foreshadowing and nothing happened! I mean, I know that Aang is the main character so it made the most sense for the beautiful girl to fall for him, but in my opinion—Katara falling for Zuko makes a much better story, because their characters contrast and yet compliment each other. I always thought an understanding; caring girlfriend was what Zuko needed. I was very sad at the end when it didn't happen.

However, you and me do have a little official comfort. The Kataang fans can celebrate all they want—but we have the fact that Zuko would have given his life to save Katara! That's love people! So…I'm rambling, but thanks for listening and prompting my blabbering! Need to share my thoughts once and a while. I'm glad you liked my character development and their SECK-CHOO-AL TEN-SHUN!! Thanks again!

**Saranha de Angelo: **Thanks for your kind compliments! I'm glad you liked my character development, I try to keep it as close to the actual characters as possible! I'm actually writing a post-finale story, but I'm not posting it until I have a few more chapters finished. If you've been reading more post-finale fics, can you suggest to me some good ones you've found? Because I'm having a really hard time finding one that I like! Thanks very much for your review, I appreciated it very much! Thanks again!

**NorthenLights25: **Yay! Zutara-tension for everyone! Thanks for your continued support and I hope you liked this chappy as much as the last!

**Nickdra: **Thanks for your review! I don't think I'm going to take this fic as far as the finales of the third season…that would make it waaaay too long—I'd never get done! I'm probably going to have to settle for a slightly less-than-canon-ending. It'll be good, don't worry. Thanks for your compliments!

**Handerra: **Thanks for the review! Yeah, time flies. I know, it's been taking me places I've never dreamed of. I'm glad to be writing again though. I'm certainly looking forward to hearing more from wonderful reviewers like you! Thanks again!

**FireChildSlytherin5: **Thank you! And I'll update as soon as I can! I'm making a really huge effort to not make you guys wait 5 months again! Thanks again.

**Twighlight's Desire: **I'm hoping we'll have a kiss soon too—I'll have to think about where I'd fit that in there. Thanks for your wonderful compliments; I really appreciate them!

**Princess-charly: **You're right, the fourth chakra deals with love and grief, and right now I think Zuko's feeling the grief part. You're theory may be right…but you'll have to keep reading to find out! Thanks for your wonderful review!

**Anonymous:** Wow! I'm flattered to have someone say that my story is the best on fanfiction! Thanks so much!

**Hotgirlow: **Thanks for your kind review and your compliments! I hope you liked this chappy as well as the last! Thanks again!


	8. Moonlight

**Disclaimer:** Avatar is not mine! Please do not sue me!

**Author's Note:** Wow—I'm so impressed with my awesome reviewers! Do you realize that I just received something like 18 reviews in just two days! I'm so flattered and happy that my story is taking off. Thank you guys so much!

* * *

**Chapter 8**

* * *

Zuko sat silently through the dinner the small band of fugitives shared; in fact, the only words he spoke were to his uncle, and even they were brief. The Prince quietly ate, still feeling self-conscious surrounded by a semicircle of strange, diverse people. Across the dimly flickering fire, Sokka and Aang were sparking a lively conversation on whether or not that lemur—Momo, wasn't it?—could actually understand them when they talked.

"Of course he doesn't understand you, Aang—he's a lemur!" Sokka was arguing, waving his arms in a ridiculous display.

The Avatar shook his head insistently. "But Sokka—Appa understands me! I don't see why Momo wouldn't."

"That's just because Appa's brain is a thousand times bigger than Momo's!"

Zuko drowned out their boring, pointless conversation with his thoughts. He glanced to the adjacently to the two boys across the fire and towards Toph and Katara. Strangely, they had been eating for a full fifteen minutes and the waterbender hadn't spoken yet. As Zuko was watching her, she happened to glance up towards him. His eyes caught hers, and she stared at him a moment, but then frowned unpleasantly and turned her head away. Confused by her reaction, the firebender watched her through the dancing flames for a few more moments and then—frustrated—stood up and stalked off to the opposite side of the camp.

After a few angry stomps Zuko heard the sound of another pair of footsteps following him, and he spun around and frowned into the face of his uncle. Iroh paused before moving forward towards his beloved nephew, his face a picture of concern.

"Zuko, are you alright?" He asked in a soft baritone.

The young firebender stared towards the ground for a moment, thinking, but then shook his head. "I don't know what's wrong with me, Uncle. Every day we spend here I get more confused."

"About what, nephew?" The old man glanced towards the distant firelight. They were far enough away from the rest of the group for their conversation to remain unheard.

"Everything! My healing sessions aren't restoring my ability to bend, my chakra is still blocked, and it's all just messing with my head. I don't want to go through this anymore!"

Iroh sat down on a large bolder, and motioned for Zuko to do the same. Reluctantly, the teenager sat beside his uncle on the rock, his face tight and intense. "Zuko," the General began, "what happened today during the healing session?"

The Prince threw his uncle an unhappy, dagger-like glance. "Nothing."

"Now Prince Zuko, I cannot offer you advice unless you are willing to help me understand your feelings," mediated Iroh calmly.

"You sound like Katara," Zuko spat out.

"Why? What did she say?"

"The exact same thing as you—today, during out healing session."

"So something did happen during the session?"

"Yes!"

"What, Prince Zuko?"

The young firebender gritted his teeth. Even though he was speaking to his uncle, Zuko didn't like exposing himself emotionally like this. It was embarrassing, demeaning, and made him feel like a child. The Prince reluctantly tried to describe the events that had taken place earlier that day.

"She tried to push through my blocked chakra," he began, and then suddenly he couldn't stop the words from spilling out of his mouth. "And I made her stop and then I yelled at her for doing it again when I asked her not to last time—but then she started to argue and interrogate me—and like an idiot I told her that I was afraid of trusting her."

Iroh gently stroked his beard. "I do not think that it is idiotic to be honest with a person. Katara seems genuinely concerned with your well-being, Prince Zuko, and she is extremely trust-worthy."

"I don't want to trust her! Everyone I've ever trusted in my life has betrayed me. My father, Azula—even my mother! I don't ever want to trust anyone again. Trust is for fools."

"You cannot truly feel that way, can you?" The old man reached out to touch his nephew. "Nephew, don't you trust me?"

Zuko realized what he had said and how it must have sounded. "When I said everybody I've ever trusted has hurt me—I didn't mean you. You've only tried to help me."

"I have a feeling Katara is doing the same, Prince Zuko."

"That's stupid."

"Zuko, that is not stupid and you should be grateful that she is offering so much of herself to you."

"No—that's the problem—she's offering too much!" Zuko stretched his hands out in a desperate manner. "Uncle, she's—she's acting like she wants to be friends with me."

"Oh, is that it?"

"Uncle, you act like it's not a big deal!"

"Is it?"

"Yes!" An exasperated Zuko stood up and stomped his feet into the baked earth. "I mean—we're enemies! Why would she want to be friends with me?"

Iroh shifted in his seat, his thick fingers still stroking his grey beard thoughtfully. "I think she sees the potential for good in you, nephew. The same that I see."

Zuko drooped at his uncle's typically inspiring but still disappointingly vague answer. He plopped gently down to the ground, a ring of dust settling around his body, and pressed his fingers to his temples. "I don't know how to have a friend," he said quietly. "I don't know if I even want one. Every time I get attached to anyone they've betrayed me."

"I'm still here," Iroh mentioned.

"I know," Zuko glanced up momentarily with sad, grateful eyes. "Thank you, Uncle."

Iroh leaned forward towards his conflicted nephew. "Zuko, I know that you feel a terrible confusion right now. But I want you to know that it's alright to be confused about your feelings sometimes. And I also want you to know that it's alright to open your heart to people. Not everyone in the world is out to hurt you."

"It seems that way."

"It may sometimes seem that way, but everyone goes through hard times." Iroh explained gently. "But if you let those hard times harden your heart, you will never learn to open it to the people who can make the future brighter."

"Is this the old-person way of saying I should try and make friends with _these_ people?" Zuko asked, glancing in the direction of the distant firelight and frowning.

"They are not to blame for your predicament, Zuko. They are victims of this war just like you and I. You have that in common, and I'm sure there's plenty more. Just give yourself a chance to find out, and I'm sure you will find it within yourself to open your heart."

"But it's the _Avatar_ and _his_ friends!" Zuko argued.

Iroh shook his head. "No, nephew. They are teenagers with an enormous burden on their shoulders—the same as you. Those labels and titles mean nothing."

Zuko bit his lip, his eyes darting from the distant fire and back towards his uncle's serious stare. He pulled his body up from the ground slowly, as if he were drawn up by an invisible string, and then turned his back on the old General perched on the boulder.

"Thank you, Uncle." The young firebender said honestly. "Sometimes I don't understand your advice, but…it still makes me feel better."

Iroh chuckled. "You'll understand in time, Prince Zuko."

"I hope so," Zuko breathed.

The Prince stood still for a moment more, and Iroh noticed his strong silhouette against the moonlit sky dotted with stars. Smiling quietly to himself, Iroh remembered the barely teenage boy he'd first took in over three years ago. The Zuko that now stood in front of him wasn't a boy anymore.

"I'm going to take a walk," The young firebender announced suddenly. "Don't worry about me."

"Of course not, nephew." Iroh replied automatically.

The old general watched as his nephew marched away towards the grasslands ahead, his silhouette growing smaller and smaller, until it was no more than a distant shadow, shifting against the stars like a spirit.

* * *

Zuko stalked off in the direction of the rising moon. It's bright, full face smiled at him, but the firebender only frowned in return. His uncle's advice was wise, but Zuko didn't know if he had the strength in his heart to do what Iroh had suggested. He walked for a while, brooding in silence, with only the whistling of the wind to accompany him.

After a while Zuko spied a jagged, blackened outline against the stars. It was an ancient, dried up tree stump, and as he rounded its massive trunk, he gasped quietly in surprise.

Katara lay on her back on the opposite side of the tree, her bright blue eyes glowing and glimmering as they gazed up in wonder towards the moon. She must have finished her dinner early and gone off alone. Zuko didn't blame her—who could stand that Water Tribe buffoon, the crazed Earthbender, the goofy Avatar boy, and his insufferable pets?

Curiosity getting the better of him, Zuko leaned further around the thick trunk of the tree and observed Katara's still figure reclining in the grass. Her robes were spread neatly beneath her form; her long, wild hair was swept back, the thick tresses curling elegantly behind her head. The waterbender's hands were entwined with one another and set lightly on her stomach, and her face and bright eyes were illuminated radiantly in the brilliant moonlight. She was perfectly still, except for the shallow movements of her breathing, and the occasional flutter of her eyelashes towards the night sky.

As Zuko stared, he imagined that Katara wasn't a person at all, but some sort of impeccable statue carved by a devoted artist. She was so still, and silent, and somber. Zuko, despite his collective opinions about the girl, was momentarily hypnotized by her natural beauty illuminated by moonbeams. He took a clumsy, careless step forward, and then—terrifyingly—heard the loud snap of a dry stick breaking underfoot. Instantly the gorgeous stillness that was Katara sprang to vivid life; her whole body jerked as Zuko stumbled out from behind the tree, a sheepish expression cemented on his face.

"Sorry, I didn't see you there," Zuko lied—badly. He coughed loudly, mortified to be caught staring at a girl from behind a tree like some sort of crazy stalker. Even more embarrassing than that was to have come across the girl after their earlier, emotional exchange, and he spun around and began marching back towards the camp. Then, taking his uncle's advice into context, he turned back around, poking his head from behind the huge trunk.

"Actually," he reconsidered aloud, gathering his courage. "Would you mind if I sat with you?"

Katara glanced at him from the ground, but she hesitated. "I—I guess so."

Zuko was slightly discontented by the nervous tone in the waterbender's voice, but he rounded the trunk and laid down a few feet away from Katara. Only their heads were close; each lay gently on a pillow of thick grass. The two teenagers gazed up at the stars for an awkward moment.

"The moon is beautiful tonight," Zuko began awkwardly. Unconsciously, he'd meant to say that _Katara_ had looked beautiful tonight, and his awareness of this thought bothered him. He frowned and waited for Katara's answer.

The waterbender's blue eyes blinked in the darkness. "Yes, she is."

"She?" Zuko inquired.

A slight pause, but then Katara continued: "You know when you tried to capture Aang at the North Pole?"

Zuko reluctantly recalled another one of his painful failures. "I do," he muttered, surprised to be feeling shameful about his actions.

"Well, there we met a girl—a princess, actually—named Yue. After Admiral Zhao tried to kill the Moon Spirit, Yue gave her life to restore it. Now she's the Moon." Katara summarized.

"Wow. I never knew that." Zuko shifted his eyes from Katara towards the sky. He blinked a few times and then a fantastic thought came to mind. Suddenly the Fire Prince rolled over to face the girl. "And you know what else? You didn't complete your part of the bargain today."

The waterbender tossed him an irritated glance. "What are you talking about?"

"Before dinner, during our healing session—you told me that if I told you something personal you'd reciprocate." Zuko explained with a slight smirk. "But you didn't."

Katara bit her lip shyly. She'd gotten away from the rest of the group after dinner so she'd have time to think about her newest predicament alone, without distraction. But now Zuko—the source of it all—was lying next to her in the dew-filled grass.

The presence of the Fire Nation Prince here with her—alone and in the dark—was making Katara aware of that strange stirring of feelings again. They were swirling deep in her stomach right now, but now every time she glanced at Zuko and saw his golden eyes staring back at her, they would rise up and clench her throat. She prayed she wasn't blushing. Was this really a crush, like Toph had hypothesized? This didn't feel like the innocent, childlike emotions that had seized her susceptible heart when she'd met Haru and Jet—this was more pronounced, deeper, and more dangerous.

_How can I possibly have a crush on someone like him?_ She thought to herself in astonishment. _And now he's here—and acting human—and I have to touch him and look at him everyday! _

The girl briefly glanced back at the young firebender, only to find those brilliant golden eyes still expectedly staring at her. They way they observed her—it was as if Zuko was aware of every miniscule movement she made—made Katara wish she could sink into the ground and remain unscathed by their savagery and tenderness. But she couldn't possibly do that. That golden stare was stronger than the mightiest warrior's chokehold. Katara couldn't escape from it; strangely, she wasn't even sure if she really wanted an escape. Her mind whirling in confusion, she blinked in surprise and managed to turn her head away. If these feelings were the beginnings of a crush, Katara was wading in very treacherous water indeed. How could she have let herself slip into this situation without knowing?

"Katara?" The firebender breathed her name slowly; he was wondering if something was wrong. His voice made Katara's heart thump wildly. "If me being here is making you uncomfortable, I can leave."

The waterbender's eyes narrowed. "No—stay," she said to him against her better judgment. "I'll keep my end of the deal. So what do you want to know?"

Zuko put a finger to his lips and then rolled back down into the dirt and grass. He stared up towards the heavens as he mulled over the many questions that hung like incomplete spider webs in his mind. Then, glancing back towards Katara, he noticed the familiar glint of blue crystal on the waterbender's neck, and it prompted a request.

"I know this might seem strange and out of nowhere, but I want to know what happened to your mother," Zuko said carefully, and he turned to gage the girl's reaction.

Katara gasped, and then turned her blue eyes on the Prince. She looked shocked, hurt, and a mix of other emotions that Zuko couldn't name. He almost instantly regretted his request, but then the waterbender nodded blankly and turned her head as if she agreed.

"There's really not much to tell," Katara began softly. "But my mother was killed in a Fire Nation raid on our village. I was seven."

The blue eyes squinted slightly in an attempt—Zuko guessed—to hold back tears. For a moment the two teenagers laid together in silence, the starlight reflecting in their eyes, and the moon's soft rays cascading down like rain.

Zuko watched Katara from the corner of his eye. His gaze gently worked its way up and down her body; the Prince thought about what she'd just admitted to him.

_So we have something in common,_ he thought to himself.

The firebender observed the girl more closely as the silence between them deepened. Zuko noticed that Katara's hands were clenched tightly against her torso; the knuckles of her fingers were white. Her chest rose and fell in a quick, nervous rhythm. She bit her lip. The Prince watched intently as a few small, white teeth immerged, pressed lightly into the flesh surrounding them, and the lips blushed red-pink. He lost himself in the insignificant action, suddenly wondering what it would be like to kiss those freshly bitten lips.

Just as suddenly, Zuko realized the absurdity of his own thoughts, and he tried to suppress them.

Zuko tried to think of home: The Fire Nation. The girls there were defined by their sharp, thinly-pinched features, alabaster skin, and dark hair. They seemed the opposite of the girl lying next to him. Those eyes—like stormy blue seas to Zuko—were more stunning than any of the yellows or goldens he'd seen in his homeland. Her exotic, dark complexion and wild hair complimented the roundness of her features. Katara was so different from any other female creature Zuko had ever seen before; she was altogether dark, deep, soft, and full.

_Beautiful,_ Zuko thought again, and again he mentally slapped himself.

Finally fed up with the silence that was fueling his disturbing ideas, Zuko forced himself to say something. He turned again towards the waterbender and waited for her to look back at him. Katara's eyes shifted uneasily towards him, and she bit her lips again, and again Zuko tried to keep at bay his forbidden thoughts..

"I'm sorry about your mother," he finally choked out. "But I wanted you to know that you're not the only one."

"Right," Katara replied, her voice bitter with sarcasm. "I suppose you'd know better than most people how many children have lost their parents in the war."

The girl turned her head slightly, looking through a curtain of thick brown hair to see the Fire Prince's reaction. She expected him to become angry and defend his country proudly, but when she glanced at him, Zuko's eyes were downcast and unforgettably sad.

"I wasn't talking about other people," the firebender whispered after a moment. "I was talking about me."

Katara blinked in shock, realizing then that her comment must have seemed cruel. But she couldn't bring herself to fully believe his solemn words just yet. "What do you mean?" She asked skeptically.

"My mother left me when I was nine," Zuko explained, the sadness in his voice profound. "I don't know where she is, why she left, or even if she's still alive. I only know that after she left my entire life fell apart."

Katara watched as the Prince's lips closed and formed into a tight frown. She felt unforgivably rude and insensitive now—but how was she supposed to know that she and Zuko shared such an unfortunate event in their lives? It didn't matter, she told herself. She'd still obviously been thoughtless in her words, especially when Zuko was acting uncharacteristically nice towards her.

Finally, Katara managed to push the words she wanted to say from her lips: "Zuko, I'm sorry. I guess—I guess I didn't realize we had so much in common."

Zuko glanced back up at her, a hint of understanding in his expression. "I didn't mean to make you sad. It's just when we spoke about your mother's necklace earlier, it seemed like you and I had a similar past—I had to find out for myself."

Katara nodded silently, her eyes cast away from the firebender. She was having trouble digesting this sudden realization. "It's okay."

"I also like talking to you," Zuko admitted after a short pause, boldly exposing some vulnerability on his part. "Other than my uncle, I've never been able to tell anyone this much about myself before."

Katara was becoming increasingly nervous. Where was this conversation leading them? Still, she couldn't let the firebender know of her anxiousness. She had to keep calm. Calm. Calm, cool, and collected.

"I'm glad that you think I'm a good listener, Zuko." Katara managed a slight, shaky smile.

Zuko briefly returned the gesture; an honest smile looked strange but spread handsomely across his face. "I think you're a good friend," he breathed, eyes cast shyly downward.

Katara blinked, thoroughly baffled. "I'm your friend now? I thought you didn't want to be friends with me. You said we were opposites."

The smile on the Prince's face faded into an expression of self-doubt, and he leaned over onto his side. Propping himself up on his elbows, the firebender stared intensely over towards Katara. The waterbender turned to met his eyes, but found that as soon as she did, she became lost in his gaze. Their bodies were close now; close enough for one of them to reach out an arm and lightly brush the other with their fingertips. Still, neither one of the benders dared to do anything but stare at their opposite.

Then Zuko suddenly gained the courage to speak. Katara watched as his face creased and shifted with every conflicted word. She could tell that he was trying hard to express himself, but every sentence was fragmented and clumsy.

"Listen," Zuko began shakily. "I know that sometimes I act like a jerk. But I don't mean to—it's like you said—every time I'm put in an…um…uncomfortable situation…I turn it around on the other person. Those things I said about us never being able to be friends—I only said that because I was scared."

"So, what changed since then?" Katara asked casually with a raised eyebrow.

"My uncle talked some sense into me. He—he told me that even though other people have hurt me, I can't let my bitter feelings about that affect my feelings about people in the future."

"So…you want to be friends?"

Zuko drew in a nervous breath. "I guess that's what I'm asking…very inarticulately."

Katara could feel her heart thumping noisily in her chest; she silently thanked the spirits that Zuko didn't have the same pulse-sensing talents that Toph did. How was she to respond? Her mind kept flashing, revisiting the memories that had caused her emotions to betray her. Zuko leaning into her touch for the first time, the night he'd pulled her so close that she could feel his breath on her face, and now—this.

A sudden, horrifying thought occurred to her then: What if Zuko was feeling the same strange, stirring feelings as she was? He'd said it himself—other than his uncle, she'd been the only other person in his life he'd been able to open up to. And if he was feeling similar, how on earth was Katara supposed to find out for certain?

"Katara?" Zuko's voice suddenly rang in the waterbender's head like a bell. "What is it?"

Katara placed a head on her forehead and chuckled in embarrassment. "Nothing! Sorry, I kind of zoned out for a moment."

"You looked worried."

The waterbender's eyes darted nervously back and forth. "I did? Well—I—it's nothing."

Zuko raised his intact eyebrow suspiciously. "That didn't sound very convincing." Then he adopted a concerned tone. "I _am_ making you uncomfortable, aren't I?"

Katara tensed. "Yes…sort of," she admitted.

Concern turned to a disappointed frown on the firebender's face. "It's alright. After all I've done to you and your friends; I don't blame you for not wanting to be friends with me." Zuko sat up, preparing to leave. "I understand."

"No, wait!" Katara suddenly jumped up after the firebender, not knowing exactly what invisible force made her do so. "It has nothing to do with that! Of course I'll be your friend."

Zuko turned halfway towards her, but the expression on his face was not as welcoming as before. "Then what is wrong?" He asked seriously.

"I'm—I'm just having some personal issues. I'm having a tough time dealing with them." Katara forced the words out of her mouth. She hoped that this would be enough to satisfy the Prince. "They're nothing."

Zuko's eyes softened, and to Katara's dismay, he sat back down beside her. "Well, you were a good listener for me just now. Maybe I could try and return the favor."

Even though she was horrified by the notion, Katara attempted a nervous laughter. Her efforts failed considerably, but Zuko didn't seem to notice. "Um…it's not the kind of stuff I can talk about with…with…"

"With me? Why? Because I'm Fire Nation?"

"No…because—it's—well, its—its just girl stuff."

Zuko's expression twisted and he tossed the waterbender a puzzled look; then his eyes shifted towards the sky again. "If you say so," he murmured, and he got up again. "I guess I'll go."

"Zuko, wait—"

"It's alright Katara. Its 'girl stuff.' I understand." Zuko's voice yielded no clue to his emotions, and he walked away slowly, the grass crushed softly underneath his feet.

As Zuko walked away, he suppressed the thoughts nagging him to turn back. He was already confused enough about his feelings for the girl, and tonight had only amplified his jumbled thoughts. Now he had gone so far as admitting to himself that he found Katara beautiful and that he might like to kiss her. Clenching his jaw, Zuko pressed forward towards the light of the now dying campfire. It was late. He was tired. He needed to sleep on this issue: He would just have to deal with it in the morning.

Once again, a small voice within Zuko cried out in desperation, calling for him to turn back and glimpse Katara's figure under the dazzling moonlight one last time.

Once again, Zuko resisted the urge.

* * *

**PERSONAL THINGY:**

I didn't have time to write to all my reviewers for the last chapter (there was 27 of them! Yayness!) and I figured I'd made you guys wait long enough anyway. I hope you enjoy this long chapter involving lost of gooey Zutara feelings!

I love you all! Thank you for sticking by me throughout my busy, busy, busy semester. I'm sorry I haven't updated in a long time but I've been getting an average of 3 hours of sleep a night due to an insane amount of homework. Thankfully, this predicament should only last until the end of December, and then I should be freed from my drastically demanding school schedule and be able to write more often. I appreciate the reviewers who have been with me since the days of "Into the Fire" as well as those who have just discovered this story! THANK YOU!!!!

I'd expect the next chapter up around sometime in December. I know it's terribly long for some of you, but I promise the wait will be well worth it—I have not only this story to finish, but a few other Zutara fics to work on! Here's a sneak peek (I also should remind—I own the plots, but not the characters, so no stealing! Thanks!) of what I have in mind for 2009:

"Rekindled"—Katara accompanies Zuko on a journey to reclaim Ba Sing Se from the Dai Li regime, and the two benders face several obstacles along the way, including—romance?

"The Masquerade"—After Aang successfully penetrated the Fire Nation by disguising himself as a student, Sokka thinks it would be an excellent idea for the whole GAang to visit the Fire Lord's Palance for Ozai's annual masked masquerade ball. Will Katara and Zuko recognize each other, or with they both fall for a mysterious and beautiful "stranger?"

"The Healing"—I'm taking a different route and actually writing an Alternate Universe (AU) fic for once. The formerly popular high school senior Zuko feels responsible for his best friend Jet's tragic, violent death, and he has the scar on his face to prove it. Suddenly an outcast among his peers, Zuko turns towards Katara—a sophomore and Zuko's English tutor—for comfort.

Sound good, eh? I'll be seeing you all later! It's 3 o'clock in the morning and I have to work at 5:30am! Eek! Goodnight!


	9. Noticed

**Disclaimer:** I own none of the characters, but the plot is my own! So don't steal!

**Author's Note:** So I'm starting this chapter even though I have a ton of homework to do—I can't stand writing another paragraph on teaching methods or classroom management. Thank you to all my reviewers who reviewed so quickly to my last chapter! I'll try not to let you down and make you wait too long…

I know that it's pretty old news already and that some of you might not care, but I managed to get tickets to the Twilight movie midnight premiere in my home town like two weeks ago! I've never actually had time to read the book (Give me credit—I tried, but schoolwork took priority over recreational reading), but I thought the movie was _great_! And yeah, now I totally think that Edward is _HAWT_. So—I guess this is kind of a shout-out to **dontwaitupxx**—since you seemed pretty excited about it too!

* * *

**CHAPTER NINE**

* * *

The next day, Toph sat broodingly on the earth, the warmth of the rising sun spreading across her back. She could feel the insects move in the dirt beneath her, slowly and deliberately trudging along their tiny, carved tunnels. But Toph wasn't really interested in listening to the bugs today.

The most interesting thing was happening right in front of her.

She could feel the movement of the shuffling feet ahead of her; she could hear the soft murmur of whispers and commands. But Toph's mischievous heart swelled to the point of bursting when she felt two very distinct, pulsing vibrations that seemed to throb together in unison.

Toph was listening to the pulsating heartbeats of Katara and Zuko as they moved around the camp separately. Although she couldn't see exactly what they were doing, she could use her earthbending to feel their every movement—including the shudder of their hearts. Toph could tell when Katara glanced over at the Fire Nation Prince, because her heart would literally skip a beat—then return to its normal steady rhythm. She could feel it too, when Zuko's fleeting looks met the waterbender's own—then both benders' heartbeats jumped in unison. Their thundering thumping was loud to Toph's unique senses.

The little earthbending girl smiled devilishly. This was too good to be true! It was as if the spirits had granted her the ultimate entertainment to save her in this boring, deserted land. Now, not only did Katara obviously have a crush on Zuko, but it was clear that Zuko felt the same towards the waterbender.

As the gears in her brain turned, Toph observed as Katara and Zuko busied themselves around the campsite. The two benders seemed conscious of their awkward, unfamiliar feelings, and tried their best to avoid each other. Still, it entertained Toph to no end when one of them caught the other staring, and their hearts reacted with fluttering bursts of accelerated, excited beating.

Smiling, Toph pressed her feet and hands further into the dirt, strengthening her unique sense. She kept her eye on Zuko for now, who was breaking up small sticks to use as kindling for the campfire. Suddenly, she felt a strong, stomping vibration near her, and sensed Katara was standing next to her.

"What are you smiling about?" The waterbender inquired as if she knew Toph had something mischievous on her mind.

Toph's face glazed over with an innocent, slightly insulted expression. "What? I'm not doing anything!" she claimed.

Katara made a face, and then looked at Zuko. Toph had been staring at him for a long time. Well, not exactly staring—since she was blind and couldn't really see—Katara shook her head to clear her thoughts.

_Okay, I'm looking a little too deeply into this, _she told herself. _So what if Toph was noticing Zuko? Oh no…I'm not jealous, am I?_

"Never mind," Katara excused, and then she looked to the ground and began to walk away, attempting to outpace her thoughts.

Broodingly, the waterbender stomped her way across the campsite, taking caution to avoid the person who triggered all these strange, disturbing thoughts. How could she possibly concentrate on chores when _he_ was around? Katara lifted her eyelids just slightly enough to catch a glimpse of the Fire Nation Prince through her lashes. To her horror, she saw Zuko's golden-yellow eyes staring right back. Startled and embarrassed, Katara gasped softly and quickly turned her head.

This was unbearable! Every time she caught Zuko glancing at her, Katara's emotions swelled and churned. One part of her was disgusted with herself for developing those emotions in the first place—but the other part of her was giddy with excitement every time their eyes met. She was so…confused.

_If I'd let Sokka and Aang kick Zuko and his uncle out in the first place, this never would have happened…_Katara lamented.

There was a sudden disturbance in the dirt next to her, and Katara looked up to find Toph leaning over, her trademark grin set proudly in place. "Need to talk about something?" Jeered the tiny girl knowingly, swinging her hands behind her back and rocking forth on her feet gleefully.

"Toph, leave me alone," Katara pleaded weakly. "I'm not in the mood for an argument right now."

She attempted to get up and move somewhere else on the grounds, but Toph stepped in front of her, still smiling. "I know what you're in the mood for," she said, and air of mysteriousness in her voice.

The waterbender raised one eyebrow. "What are you talking about?"

"Actually, it's less of a 'what' and more of a 'who' that I'm talking about," Toph stated matter-of-factly. The girl's black mop of loosely bundled hair bobbed forward, gesturing towards the distant figure of Zuko, who had abandoned his piercing stare and gone back to breaking up kindling.

Katara gasped when she realized. "Shut up! You don't know what you're talking about!"

"Actually, I think I do," Toph retorted confidently.

The waterbender's steely, defensive expression gradually melted into on of self-defeat. She slumped forward, but then abruptly reached out, grasped the earthbender's arm tightly, and yanked Toph into the nearest abandoned building. Now, not only was Katara shocked and embarrassed, she was fuming.

"Toph!" Katara released her hold on the tiny girl's arm and stomped in circles around the room. "Why do you do this? Did I do something unspeakably horrible you in another life? Do you have some grudge against me? Why are you doing this?"

Toph scoffed. "So I'm assuming that I'm right?"

"Right? What?"

"I'm right about you and Zuko."

The waterbender's breath hitched in her throat as the Fire Prince's name was spoken. She attempted to push out some protest, some false claim that her mood was caused by something obscure and unimportant. Instead, she hung her head and weakly nodded in compliance.

"How'd you find out?" Katara inquired miserably. "You didn't tell anyone else, did you?"

"Do you think if Sokka or Aang knew about it, that they'd send _me_ to talk to you?" Toph mused. "Well, maybe that would happen, because I'm pretty sure Sokka would be busy beating the crap out of Zuko, and Aang would probably be cheering on the sidelines."

Toph glanced over and noticed the petrified look on Katara's face. "Relax, Madam Foosey Britches, I didn't tell anyone."

"But…but…how do you know?"

"Katara, I've been watching and listening to your heartbeats. This whole 'feeling the vibrations thing?' It's a lot more sensitive than you mere seeing-folk might think." The earthbender grinned once more. "You two have been making each others' hearts skip a beat all day."

Katara huffed and collapsed to the ground in a blue-clad heap. She gently hugged herself and found that if gave her no comfort. "I don't know why this is happening to me," she whispered pitifully. "I'm so confused."

"I don't blame you for liking him," Toph sat next to the waterbender and affectionately punched Katara on the arm. "I mean, he's tall, dark, handsome..."

"How do _you_ know that he's dark or handsome? You're blind!" Katara replied. "I know that you can feel vibrations well, but that won't tell you how attractive a person is!"

"I guess I'm just assuming that you have good tastes in men."

"But I don't! I really, really don't!" Protested the other girl. "The first boy I liked tried to kidnap my brother and then drown an entire village behind our backs, and now this—"

"Was that—that Jet guy?"

"Yes," Katara confirmed, recalling the upsetting memory.

"But am I right?"

"About what?"

"About Zuko being attractive—for a Fire Nation guy, I mean."

Katara bit her lip. She was wary of spilling her feelings to Toph like this, but behind all the name-calling, the arguments, and the mischievousness of the earthbender, she was sure there was a trustworthy core. Besides, she needed someone to talk to or else she might go crazy. She imagined Zuko—his sharp, classically handsome features, his flashing golden eyes, the newly-grown crop of dark hair, and the well-defined muscles beneath it all. Katara blushed slightly at the thought, and was thankful that Toph couldn't see the flush of color stain her cheeks.

"I guess…yeah," the waterbender finally answered. "Zuko _is_ very attractive. One of the most handsome men I've seen."

"You mean—besides the scar?" Toph asked curiously.

Katara glanced at the earthbending girl, surprised. "I—I didn't really think of that. It's just a part of him…I don't really notice it anymore."

"Hm," Toph muttered, and she leaned over and began picking at the bottoms of her feet.

Katara's eyes scanned the small, stony room as she tried to collect her jumbled thoughts. But it was like a complex puzzle with several pieces that were broken or distorted—it just didn't fit. This was wrong. Her feelings were wrong, and she could potentially be putting herself—and the others—in great danger by allowing her emotions to overrule her better judgment. Then again, Zuko had been acting differently—humanly—and maybe her worries were meaningless. Maybe Zuko was trustworthy. He had certainly seemed that way last night when they'd laid together under the stars.

Suddenly Toph spoke up: "So, I'm curious. What made you like him?

"You mean Zuko?"

"No, the _other_ Fire Nation Prince that you've been healing," replied the earthbender sarcastically.

Katara brushed back a lock of hair and thought about it. There didn't seem to be a single moment when…wait.

"There was this one time," the waterbender began softly. "I had tried to push the block in Zuko's chakra away from his heart using force, and he didn't like it. We somehow got into an argument about each of us secretly wanting to trust each other…and then…then…"

Katara's narrative trailed off; her lips parted as she remembered the somewhat frightening, electric moment between the two benders. Her emotions churned and throbbed inside her as she recalled that instant.

"…Zuko suddenly grabbed me, and he pulled me close—our faces were almost touching…"

Toph's face suddenly sprung to life. "What?! Did you kiss?"

Mortified, Katara shook her head adamantly and waved her hands to shush the tiny earthbender. "No, no! That's not what happened at all…but—I guess—when Zuko first grabbed me and pulled me close like that, maybe I _did_ think that he was about to kiss me."

"Why didn't you scream or slap him or something?" Toph continued her barrage of questions.

"I don't know! Zuko just grabbed me like that, then stared at me for a second, and then told me that if I didn't trust him then I would have screamed. So he proved his point—but—to answer your earlier question…I suppose that's the moment that triggered all this nonsense. But I still can't figure out why I'm having these feelings for him."

Toph held up a hand. "I don't think there's a real need to explain your feelings. You have them—so you should focus on doing something about it instead of agonizing over why you feel this way."

Katara frowned at the earthbender. "That is such an earthbender thing to say," she whined gloomily. "But how to I deal with it? I can't talk to anybody by you—and I am _not_ going to tell Zuko how I feel."

"Why? Because you're afraid he might feel the same way?" Toph said coyly.

"Just because it's wrong—and I can't do it." Katara explained vaguely. Her white teeth poked out from between her lips and gently bit down. "Why, do you think he like me too?"

Toph rolled her pale, sightless eyes. "Wow, you really are clueless, aren't you?"

"Just answer me!"

"Okay, okay—I've noticed that he's _definitely_ noticed you."

"Really?" Katara's face brightened with excitement briefly, but then she caught herself and frowned. "Really?" This time her voice had a trembling, worried tone.

Suddenly, Toph stood up and brushed her robes free of any debris it had collected while the two girls were sitting on the stone floor. "Well," she said, shrugging nonchalantly. "Now you know. I think I'm going to make some lunch."

As the earthbending girl began to stride proudly away, Katara watched her in amazement. "Wait a minute!" she yelled after Toph as she stepped outside. "That's it? No advice? You just wanted to find out all the latest Katara gossip?"

Toph shrugged once more. "Sorry—like I said before—I'm just curious. I couldn't sit there watching anymore. I mean—my senses can feel when your heart's beating faster, but now what your brain is thinking."

Katara's mouth gaped open. "You—you—argh!"

The waterbender threw up her hands in a dramatic, passionate display of frustration, but then allowed them to drop limply at her sides. Stepping back out of the lonely abode beside the earthbender, Katara sighed and gave up her seemingly endless struggle to make sense of everything.

"Fine," she said, even more miserably than before. "Let's get some lunch."

* * *

Later that night, Katara felt emotionally spent. It had not been a pleasant day. First and formost, she was unexpectedly enamored with Zuko. That was reason enough to worry. And worry Katara did. Especially now that someone else in their small encampment knew about the waterbender's feelings.

Katara suspected that Toph's day had been considerably better than her own. The small earthbender had made it her business to torment the older girl endlessly throughout the day—or at least, that's how Katara saw it. Toph probably was just thinking she was being funny in her own, twisted way. During lunch, Katara and Zuko made an effort to sit as far apart from each other as possible—they'd sat directly across from each other, and Toph had seated herself on Zuko's right, where the other girl could see her. Katara swore that Toph's nonstop squirming throughout the meal was because she was trying so hard not to laugh while listening to the two opposites' hearts fluttered in their chests. It was unbearable.

The rest of the day Katara had spent attempting to keep her mind off the Fire Nation Prince. She had turned out to be very productive—she'd mended two pairs of Sokka's pants, straightened up all of their provisions, and discovered some berry bushes growing in the shade of a tumbled building. But despite all she'd done, her mind simply wouldn't stray from Zuko. Whatever she did, she was constantly afraid that he would suddenly appear and request a healing session with her. Katara felt that she couldn't handle that sort of intimacy with the Prince right now, when her emotions were as wild and changing as rolling waves on a vast sea.

_Alone…in a room…with Zuko?_ The waterbender wondered, even as her mind fought against it. _What if he wants me to heal him with his shirt off? How did I even manage to touch him like that when we first began the healing sessions? I'd die of embarrassment before that could happen again!_

Now the night was blanketing the sky, and tiny stars poked holes of light through the black oblivion—yet Katara still felt no relief. Just as her emotions acted like restless sea, her logic was like a small boat being tossed mercilessly about the waves. She couldn't tell what was wrong and what was right anymore. It was as if all sense had escaped her mind.

Desperate for some time to think, Katara retreated into the vast prairies and meadows just beyond their hideout's limits. She gently trod through the long, gently swaying grasses towards the twisted old tree trunk she'd discovered just days earlier. It was her designated sanctuary. Well, at least it had been, until Zuko had found her there yesterday.

_I have to stop concentrating on him, _Katara thought, _and begin thinking about how we're going to handle Zuko's sister Azula and get Aang thoroughly trained on earthbending. That's so much more important than all of…this._

A gentle breeze cooled the waterbender's cheeks as she glided through the prairie towards her sanctuary. She felt the blades of grass tickle her thighs. Finally, she caught sight of her beloved destination—the jagged, black outline of the tree was just on the horizon. Katara sighed for the millionth time today as her tired feet gradually took her closer.

Finally, she reached the tree. It's massive, wide trunk twisted awkwardly, adding to its already strange, but oddly beautiful appearance. Its thick roots coiled into the powdery dirt, and Katara imagined them delving deeply into the earth searching for the last drops of water in this parched land. She smiled delicately, and reached out to touch the trunk's rough surface as she rounded its girth—then stopped dead in her tracks.

Peering past the tree's black outline, she spied a dreadfully familiar figure. His sharp silhouette stood out blatantly against the sky, which was a strange shade of purple in the transitioning light.

Zuko.

_No, no, no!_ Katara's mind began to reel. _Why is he here? Why now? I need time alone to think!_

The waterbender learned carefully forward, pressing herself against the roughly-textured trunk, and glanced again at the Fire Nation Prince.

Zuko was leaning against the tree, his eyes turned upward, watching the changing sky thoughtfully. His hands were tucked close to his body, his arms crossed against his chest. His hair shifted gently in the cool night breeze, brushing lightly against his brow; his mouth was gracefully curved into an expression that was neither a frown nor a smile. And—as always—his golden yellow eyes glowed like two distant candles flickering in the darkness. Katara observed his unmoving form in silence, frozen in place as if she herself were rooted to the ground.

_What could he be thinking about?_ She wondered. _And what's his reason for being here? _

Suddenly, Zuko turned his candlelit eyes in her direction. Thankfully, Katara reacted quickly enough to shrink back behind the tree before he could spot her spying on him. But the Fire Nation Prince's small gesture made new thoughts surface in Katara's mind: Did he know that she came to this spot often? Did he somehow know that she was coming here tonight? Was he waiting for her to arrive right now? Maybe he wanted to continue on their conversation from the night before. Maybe he wanted to talk about something entirely different.

A mess of different situations played rapidly in Katara's mind. She gently placed a palm on her chest and felt her heart fluttering wildly—out of control—as if it were a butterfly desperate to escape its cage.

_Maybe Toph was right today…_The waterbender thought suddenly. _Maybe Zuko has noticed me in the same way I've noticed him. _

Regretfully, Katara quickly dismissed the thought as rubbish. Even if Zuko felt the same way she did about him, they were still very different people. Opposites. One tied to a selfless duty to protect the world and the innocent people in it, the other bound to a promise he made himself, his father, and his nation to regain his honor, no matter what it cost the rest of the world. It could never work out, not with the situation as it were.

Katara gathered her courage to peek out at the handsome Prince from behind the tree one last time. _Still—if it were a different world…maybe Zuko and I could have been a possibility,_ she mused sadly_. _

The waterbender allowed herself a small, meek smile at the whimsical impossibility—then suddenly, a strong hand appeared from the darkness and clamped itself tightly over her mouth. She couldn't scream. Another hand lashed out and grabbed one of her arms, twisting it painfully behind her back. Only a muffled whimper escaped Katara's lips, but she managed to turn her head just enough to make out who her attacker was.

She glimpsed two fire-filled, golden eyes piercing the darkness. _Just like his…_Katara thought in horror.

"Say nighty-night, brave little waterbender," purred a seductive, cruel voice that could only belong to one person.

Azula.

Katara felt the heat swirl around her, bursting the air into terrifying flames. What had happened to the peaceful, darkened night? It disappeared before her as only fire filled her vision.

She could only whimper weakly as she felt the blaze begin to sear her skin.

* * *

**PERSONAL THINGY:**

Yay! I got another chapter done! Finally! I'm sorry for the terribly long wait, guys. It was a very hectic time for me the last couple of months. To make a long story short, I wrote up a 216 page paper as part of my final courses in college. I'm going to be an English teacher, and this paper was the document I needed to create to prove to my professors and the English Education department that I'm capable of heading a class. So—to all of you who are thinking about becoming teachers someday—it's a lot of work! But worth it.

Anyway—I've left you guys with kind of a mean cliffhanger for this chapter (Sorry—don't curse me!) but I'm going to begin working on writing the next chapter right away, so you guys shouldn't have to wait too long for the next installment to be posted. It's just getting interesting! Thanks to all of my continuously wonderful reviewers! Reviewer Responses are posted below!

**REVEIWER RESPONSES:**

**Yemi Hikari:** Yay! I'm very happy that you liked my writing style. I try very hard to make it interesting to read. Sorry it took kind of a long time for my next chapter to be up. It's been a hectic couple of months for me! Thanks so much!

**Saranha de Angelo:** Thank you for your kind compliments! I'm glad your enjoying my portrayal of Zuko. I try to keep his behavior as loyal to the canon as possible. I pretty much explained it in the last chapter, but I think the reason that Zuko is so reluctant or afraid to open up to Katara is because he's been so hurt by nearly everyone else in his life—even his mom. I hope you liked this chapter!

**Silver Apocalypse: **I'm very flattered that you took an hour of your own time to read my story. I'm also very glad you seem to like it so much! Thanks for your amazing compliments; I appreciate them immensely. I totally understand when you say that an in-character fic is refreshing in a world of overly rushed, OOC Zutara. That's why I began writing fanfiction for Avatar in the first place—I was so passionate about it, but when I read others I didn't feel they were putting that same passion into their stories—so I decided I had to do it. And well—I guess you could say it's worked pretty well for me so far. I'm so happy to have earned you as another reader. Thank you so much!

**Dontwaitupxx:** Hello again! Thanks for reviewing once again, and thanks for leaving me with your compliments! I know that I haven't updated as soon as you requested, but I hope you liked it anyway! Thank you!

PS: How did you like Twilight? I liked it a lot! Edward is hot. I haven't gotten through the entire book yet due my colossal load of course work, but when I read the part describing Edward's unusual eye color I automatically thought of Zuko! Weird, huh? Tell me what you thought! Thanks again!

**Chilliin'3333498:** Thanks for your kind review! I'm excited to begin writing "The Masquerade" too, but I'm sad to say that hasn't happened yet. I've definitely thought long and hard about it too. It will most likely come to you in the form of a gigantic one-shot. Keep a weathered eye out in the future! You never know when I'll have a sudden writing binge. Sorry you had to wait so long for this update! I hope you'll forgive me and my hectic schedule! It's almost over (thank God!) and I should get back to regularly writing once more. Thanks again for your kindness!

**Avatargirl92:** You're very welcome for updating. Thank _you_ for reviewing! I appreciate it! I'm glad you think that I write Katara and Zuko well. It's one of the best things in the world when I hear a reviewer say something like that, because that's what I strive the most for. Thanks so much!

**Handerra:** Thank you for your compliments and thank you for the kind review! I hope you liked this chapter as much as the last!

**NorthernLights25:** I'm glad you liked last chapter. Lots of Katara/Zuko bonding time. Not so much in this chapter though, but I can guarantee it in the next chapter! I hope you enjoyed it, and thank you once more for your review! I appreciate every word!

**Anawey:** Thanks Anawey! Your right, I bet Zuko thought he knew what "girl stuff" was when Katara used it as an excuse. Poor Zuko. He must feel so rejected…it will all work out though in the end—don't worry! I'm so happy that you liked it, and I hope you liked this chapter just as much (or more!). Thanks again!

**JC:** Thank you for your kind words and suggestions! You know, I've always believed that TAang would have been a better fit for the series than KatAang. Oh—and the fact that Toph was the only person left without a new friend/significant other at the end made me mad! I was sure she was going to get somebody! Unfortunately, I like to only have one focus in my fanfictions—so there won't be an Aang/Toph hooking up in this story. Sorry if I disappointed you. I just don't feel I understand Aang's character enough to be able to portray him correctly—as for Toph—I'll let my reviewers do the deciding. Thanks very much for you review!

**ArrayePL:** I hope the waiting hasn't killed you yet! Sorry for the long wait—I had a very busy semester! It's almost over though, and I should be updating more often throughout the holiday and winter seasons because I'll have off of school and work. Thanks for your positive reviews; I really appreciate your kindness!

**Doctor Anthony:** It's always flattering when my fic is commented on by a fellow writer! I'm glad you enjoy my story. I'd love to read yours, but I'm still pretty busy and I feel I've made my reviewers wait too long already for new chapters. I really want to concentrate on writing before I begin to read again. However, you never know when I'll have the spare time—and I'll be sure to leave you a review when I stop by one of your fics! Thanks for recommending them to me! And thanks so much for the kind review!

**FireChildSlytherin5: **Hello again, FireChild! I'm glad you liked where this plot is going. Don't worry, Zuko and Katara will end up as more than "friends" very soon. Actually—I think they're more than friends right now—they just don't' know it yet. I'll update as soon as humanly possible! Thanks again for your kindness and patience!

**ML7:** Hello, my most awesome reviewer! I'm glad you like where my story and the characters are headed. It's about to get much more interesting really soon, as I'm sure you figured given this chapters mean cliffhanger! I hope you liked this chapter as much as you liked the last, and once again (I know I must say this a lot—but I really feel the need to express it) thanks so much for messaging me every time I fall off the face of Fanfic Planet. Your constant involvement has really kept me writing and I'm so appreciative of that. Writing for Avatar is one of the things I love more than anything, and you helped motivate me to keep it up. Thanks again!

**Chrystal Inferno: **Hello again mon ami! Your review made me warm and fuzzy inside! Thanks for all the compliments you left. They're a great motivator! I'm so happy that you find my portrayals of Katara and Zuko—even as they're changing and beginning to tolerate each other—right and proper. I was amazed when you said that I portrayed them in "a way I don't think the show could every produce." What a compliment! Thank you so much! I'm also glad you like my style of writing—I always try to make it artistic and visual—I want to place my readers in the story, so it feels like they're actually seeing it happen, no just reading it. Oh—and just to let you know—Zuko won't be confused about his mysterious crush on Katara very long! I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I'll try to get up the next soon. Thanks for being such a faithful reader!

**Charizardag:** Yes! They are finally getting along! I was glad that the story finally came down to this too—I was getting sick of writing Katara vs. Zuko arguments all the time. But now it's really going to get interesting! Thanks so much for your kind review!

**Little Weasel Girl: **Thank you so much! I really am flattered and pleased when a reviewer says something like my characters are portrayed realistically or (like you said) their dialogue is really good. I'm very appreciative of your kindness! Thank you!

**Empty-spaces:** Yay! You sound like a writer—what with all the talking about Zuko developing internally as well as externally—cool! I'm very glad you thought that I was doing a good job. I'm still not sure how last chapter's discussion will affect their future, but I'm finding ways to fit it into the future of this story in interesting ways. It's going to get really exciting now, especially after Azula has shown up on the scene! Thanks so much for your wonderful, wonderful compliments! I appreciate them immensely!


	10. Captivity

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Avatar, but holy crap—do I ever wish I could!

**Author's Note: **I wrote an insanely long chapter (well, at least for me) for you guys because you're the best, most wonderful reviewers on planet earth! Thanks so much for continuing to support me and my storytelling. Now read—I command you—and REVIEW!! Thanks guys!

**_ATTENTION TO ALL OF MY WONDERFUL, DEVOTED, AND THOROUGHLY AWESOME REVIEWERS AND READERS:_**

**Recently I've been extremely flattered by the multitude of wonderful compliments and comments I've been recieving. You've all been very good this year. : ) This is why I've decided to say "Happy Holidays" and give you all a Christmas present in the form of a brand-spankin' new Zutara story! I'll post it sometime next week so you can have the gift of Zutara for Christmas.**

**Some of you might remember it; I've mentioned it before, but my new story is entitled _The Masquerade_. It takes place during Book 3: Fire, somewhere between "The Headband" and "Nightmares and Daydreams." Here's a short synopsis for those of you who don't know what I'm talking about but are excited anyway:**

_Prince Zuko reluctantly agrees--along with Azula--to attend and represent the royal family at Fire Lord Ozai's Annual Royal Masquerade Ball. Unbeknownst to the Fire Nation Prince, Katara, Aang, and Sokka spot a poster advertising the event and decide it is the perfect oppurtunity to infiltrate the Fire Lord's home unnoticed before the Invasion. However, when Zuko and Katara encounter each other at the Masquerade, tensions will heighten, identities will be revealed, and an unexpected romance will bloom._

**Sound good? Perk your interest? Make you want to jump out of your chair and do a celebratory Zutara dance? I certainly hope so! Keep an eye out for it next week, or add me to your Author Alert list to be the first to read _The Masquerade._ Thank you all for being so interested in my work!**

And now back to my current story and to resolve the much-hated cliffhanger from the previous chapter...

* * *

**CHAPTER TEN**

* * *

Katara attempted a scream as she felt the heat of the flames consume her, but the hand that clamped tightly over her mouth blocked any sound from escaping into the cool night air. She winced in pain as her captor twisted her arm further behind her back—the pain was so much that she had no hope of defending herself, even with waterbending.

Besides—the fire had already surrounded her. She felt the blaze sear her skin. Smoke circled her head like a darkened, hazy halo, and when she tried to suck in a desperate breath the malicious fumes choked her and made her eyes fill with tears. Katara saw the blurry, flickering shapes of the flames all around her, and in her weakened, captive state began to resign herself to death.

_Is it really ending like this?_ She wondered.

Then suddenly the flames were gone, and Katara felt her body being yanked roughly back. The smoke disappeared, and the waterbender coughed as well as she could with a hand covering her mouth, clearing her aching lungs of the deadly fumes. But she was confused. Where was the fire? Why didn't she feel it biting into her flesh like she did a moment ago?

"So—you survived after all," Katara heard a familiar, mocking female voice say. It was Azula, Zuko's sister, who held her captive. "But you'd better not try that again. You could hurt your little waterbending friend."

Blinking her eyes rapidly to clear them of her tears, Katara glanced again at the scene in front of her. This time, not only did she see the outline of the huge dead trunk, but Zuko was there. He was frozen in a classic firebending stance—and his fists were smoking. Suddenly, the situation made sense to Katara. It hadn't been Azula's filling the night air with flames moments ago, it had been Zuko. And then, as quickly as that thought made sense to her it didn't anymore. She remembered that Zuko wasn't capable of firebending. Or was he?

_But…but how?_ The waterbender thought in disbelief, even as she watched the delicate tendrils of smoke curl off the Prince's knuckles. _His chakra is blocked; he can't firebend! What's going on?_

She glanced at the Prince's face—the expression cast across his features was a mix of terror and amazement. He seemed as just as confused as Katara was, and equally frightened as well.

"Oh, and I don't think I have to tell you," Azula continued, the tone of her voice twisting like a snake ready to strike. "Don't scream or attempt to warn anyone else in any way—or I'll kill her."

"Azula, I'm going to say this only once," Zuko's voice was low and dangerous, but there was a tremor in it that told Katara—and Azula—that he was desperately frightened. The Prince lowered his head, his eyes growing brighter as the darkness around the three benders grew thicker. This time, his voice sounded stronger: "Let. Her. Go."

Katara watched in silence, unable to do anything, as the knuckles on the firebender's fists tightened and became white with tension. However, the Fire Nation Prince's command seemed like an amusing joke to his sister. Azula cruelly twisted Katara's arm tighter, until another muffled whimper of pain escaped the waterbender's lips.

"Katara!" Zuko exclaimed, although the calling of her name was hushed to a mere whisper.

"I'm _not_ letting her go," The Fire Nation Princess declared matter-of-factly. "And I think you know that the best thing you can do for her is to stand down, Zuko."

The female firebender gave Katara's arm another agonizing yank; another pain-filled cry stung Zuko's ears. Azula certainly had her own wicked ways of getting a point across. Katara watched, growing more and more frightened by the second, as Zuko's eyes flashed back and forth between the two girls. First a sympathetic, petrified glance at Katara, then a fiery, rage-filled glare at his sister, and then back again.

"I'm waiting, Zuzu," Azula purred musically. She began to give Katara's arm another twist, and the waterbender squeezed her eyes shut and braced herself for another jolt of pain.

But it never came. Katara peeked open her eyes, and saw Zuko's facial expression melt from that of a determined warrior to that of a defeated child. He dropped his stance, his arms hanging limply at his sides, but his eyes still held their characteristic fire.

"I'll do whatever you ask on one condition," Zuko pleaded desperately with his sister, hoping on some miracle that she might suddenly become compassionate. "Let Katara go, Azula."

Katara was dumbfounded. Was Zuko really that self-sacrificing? Could he really be willing to give himself up just to win her safety? She suddenly gained a new respect for Zuko in that moment, but doubt still lingered in the corners of her mind. Zuko had actually _firebended._ How was it suddenly possible, unless he had been lying to her this entire time?

The Princess's eyebrows raised in interest as the Prince gave his declaration of compliance, but she didn't seem to take Zuko's request seriously. "Katara? So that's her name."

"Azula, let her go!" Zuko insisted again, the flame in his eyes dimming as hope diminished. "You can do whatever you want with me—just let her leave."

"You're in no position to bargain, Zuko." Came the cruel reply; this time there was no musical quality to it. Only malice. "How about this? I can do whatever I want with you—and maybe then I let her _live_."

The Prince's mouth opened in an attempt to protest, but at that moment two new figures rounded the giant trunk. Katara recognized them as the two girls that had been chasing them the same day that Azula had struck her brother with lightening. With her wide blue eyes, Katara tried to mentally convey a warning to the Prince, but to no avail. As they approached, the girl with the braid flipped delicately over the long grasses. Zuko barely had time to turn around and form a new firebending stance before she'd delivered a series of quick jabs to his core.

Zuko groaned as he sank to the earth, clutching his chest. Katara attempted another scream, but bit back the sound she felt the long nails of her captor digging into the skin of her face. Azula leaned over her shoulder and smiled at her.

"It was so thoughtful of you to take care of my brother for me," she said, her voice a mixture of sweet and sour. "But it's time for me to take him back for a friendly little Fire Nation reunion. Congratulations: You're invited."

The Princess's smile widened, spreading across her face and showing Katara glimpses of perfect white teeth. Then Azula withdrew and began shouting orders.

"Mai! Ty Lee!" She commanded. "Get our Lizard Hounds. We have to take our 'guests' to the train before we're spotted by another member of their motley crew."

Katara panicked and weakly attempted to struggle. Her retaliation was met with another harsh yank to the arm Azula was holding so tightly behind her back. "Stop struggling and trying to scream," the Princess hissed. "Or the next time I'm going to dislocate your entire shoulder."

The waterbender was too frightened to offer even a whimper in reply, but she regretfully obeyed. Azula forced her to the ground and she and another girl—Katara couldn't tell which with her face pressed into the dirt—worked together to quickly gag, blindfold, and bind her hands and feet. She was completely helpless—couldn't scream, couldn't see, couldn't bend—and Katara suspected Zuko was experiencing the same. Suddenly, she felt her body being lifted, as the Fire Nation girls gossiped to each other heedlessly.

"You know, we here so much about the dark skin and light eyes of the Water Tribes when we learn about foreign culture in school, but I expected them to be prettier than _this_," One of the girls—Katara recognized the voice as the girl who wore pink and flipped a lot—reported shamelessly. "What do you think, Mai?"

Another voice, this one lower, raspier, and considerably more agitated than the rest replied: "I don't care what she looks like; I just want to get out of the Earth Kingdom and back home. All this place is—is long grass and rock—boring!"

"Hold it, ladies," Katara heard Azula's authoritative voice chime in. "We have captured my fugitive brother—yes—but we haven't yet achieved our other objective."

The girl in pink spoke again—her voice was high and bright, like the tone of a bell. "Other objective? What was that again, Azula?"

Azula noisily sighed. "Ty Lee, do you always have to be so ignorant? Obviously we haven't captured the Avatar yet—but I suspect that if this waterbending girl was around here the rest of her band won't be far away."

Katara felt a wave of relief was over her tense body. So—Azula really didn't know where Aang or the others were. That was good. But she suspected that they were nearby. _That_ was bad, especially considering that neither Aang, Sokka, Toph, or Iroh had been warned about the impending danger.

_What are they going to do when they discover Zuko and I gone?_ The waterbender thought nervously. _What are they going to think?_

Katara knew what they would think—with her and Zuko disappearing unexpectedly on the same night, no doubt Sokka would immediately begin to suspect that Zuko had tricked them all and had now made off with his sister as a captive. Iroh would defend his nephew of course, and Toph would probably take his side, considering what she knew about the relationship between her and Zuko.

Katara gasped suddenly as she felt herself being thrown roughly over the side of something large—and cold. She felt a spiny ridge pressing into her stomach, and she felt a cool, scaly texture against the side of her face. Then Katara felt the tense, shivering muscles move beneath it and retched silently into her gag. She was folded over the back of a giant lizard_. Gross._ She felt the huge body shift as its rider slid into place in front of her, and heard Azula's voice again.

"We'll deposit the prisoners on the train, and then begin to formulate a plan to capture the Avatar, my treacherous uncle, and their companions." The Princess ordered, and suddenly, the giant scaly thing under Katara was moving. And judging from how violently she was bouncing against the cool textured skin of the beast, it was moving very fast. She heard the wind whistle loudly in her ears.

It was all she could do—listen. Without sight, Katara had no way of knowing where on earth the Fire Nation trio was taking her. She didn't even know if she and Zuko were being taken to the same place. Katara pricked her ears as she bounced to and fro on the giant lizard's back. She heard the same whistling wind for a long time—and suspected they were crossing the vast plains of the land, then she heard the noisy sloshing of water—and felt the cool droplets mist her face—and determined that they were crossing a river or a stream of some sort. Lastly, she heard the wild whistling of the wind hush to a slight ghostly whisper, and heard the sounds of leaves brushing delicately together. They were in a forest when they finally stopped.

Azula hopped off the animal, grabbed Katara roughly by the collar of her robe, and threw her carelessly to the ground like a piece of trash. The waterbender grunted and then groaned in pain when she landed awkwardly on her shoulder. She was then lifted and carried by two of the girls. She listened to their footsteps—first they resounded with the fragile crunching of pine needles, and then reduced to rhythmic steps on thick chunks of metal. She was inside—something—Katara suspected it was that awful-looking, blackened piece of machinery that had been chasing them endlessly weeks beforehand. Or possibly a hidden Fire Nation outpost. She grunted again as she was dropped sloppily onto the cold metal surface. Then the girls left, leaving Katara still blind, mute, and terrified. She began to worry that they had separated her from Zuko.

_Even if he was lying to me about firebending before—he tried to save me—and I'd be thankful to have anybody's company in a situation like this,_ Katara thought to herself.

Finally, the footsteps returned, and this time they dropped another load quite close to Katara on the floor. Then one of the girls removed her gag and lifted the blindfold and Katara blinked at the sudden burst of harsh light flooding her eyes. Gradually, her vision returned to her, and she made out the space that she had been discarded in. The first thing she noticed was the riveted, black walls that surrounded her on all but one side. The last side was nearly the same, but it had set in its middle a thick, grey, metal door with a small glass window, where the beam of light was coming from. She noticed that the door didn't have a knob or a handle on the inside, and glanced up as the girl who had freed her face from it's uncomfortable binds—the dark-haired, bored-looking one—slipped out of it into whatever brightly-lit room that laid beyond.

Katara blinked again, and then turned her head, her eyes searching the space she'd been imprisoned in. She looked to her right—just another black wall. She glanced to her left, and saw the Fire Nation Prince—bound just like she was—sitting next to her in silence, with intensity in his eyes.

"Zuko?" she asked stupidly, as if she believed the sight of him to be some trick of light.

"Shh!" The Prince barely flinched at the sound of his name, but instead kept his eyes locked on the door.

Katara was shocked for a moment at his rudeness—but then she noticed the barely audible voices coming from just behind the metal door.

"Are you sure you want to keep them together in there, Azula?" said the raspy-voiced, dark-haired girl. Unlike before, her voice carried and ever-so-slight notion of concern.

Katara heard the Fire Nation Princess scoff. "Oh, Mai—are you jealous? Don't concern yourself with my brother anymore. He's a fugitive now, after all. We only have one cell in this stupid thing anyway."

"Yeah, you should really commission the royal engineers to make you a larger train, Azula." The last to chime in was the girl with the bell-like voice.

There was a short pause, and Katara and Zuko strained their ears to hear the next bit of conversation. Finally, the Fire Nation Princess spoke up—unfortunately, it was news neither of them wanted to hear.

"Let's go outside," she said, in a tone that made the casual suggestion seem more like a strict order. "I don't want _them_ to overhear us—and we need to create a plan to capture the Avatar and the rest of the fugitives."

As they listened to the three girls step out of the door to the outside, Katara turned her eyes towards Zuko. The Prince's eyes fluttered slowly down to the metallic surface of the floor. After staring in the same spot for a few awkward moments, he looked up shyly at the waterbender.

"This is my fault," he told her, but Katara wasn't really concerned with whose fault it was that they were both stuck in this situation.

She injected a dose of anger into her gaze. "You lied to me," she insisted. "You told me you couldn't firebend and then you did."

Zuko blinked, seeming surprised and hurt by her accusation. "You don't understand—I didn't know I had it back!"

"How couldn't you? And how could you have done that if your chakra had been blocked? I felt it—it couldn't have been that you'd just been hiding it from me all this time! What did you do?"

"I—I don't know," Zuko stammered, unsure of what to tell the waterbender.

Katara continued her tirade: "Have you been hiding it? And why? Where you planning to kidnap Aang all along? How did you firebend when Azula grabbed me?"

"I told you!" Zuko finally blurted, a little too loudly to get his point across. "I don't know!"

The firebender looked away from Katara, staring again at the floor and shifting uncomfortably against his binds. "All I know is that I was resting by the tree, waiting for you to get there, and then I heard a noise. I turned around and saw Azula practically choking you—and my immediate reaction was to firebend. I guess I forgot that I'd lost my bending, but then I actually saw the flames."

"I thought Azula was burning me up!" Katara interrupted, upset remembering the moment she'd thought had been her last.

Zuko glanced up at her sympathetically. "I'm sorry. I didn't realize that I could bend until it happened."

"Well, as long as you can firebend again, can you burn our bonds so we can at least move?" Katara asked, still with a slight bite in her voice.

She looked expectantly at the former Prince, but Zuko's eyes sank once more to the ground for a few tense moments, then back up again. His eyes were filled with fiery frustration.

"That's the thing," he said softly and regretfully, "I don't think I can do it again."

Katara's brow furrowed. "What? What kind of an excuse is that?"

"It's not an excuse!" Zuko insisted, his eyes burning like smoldering embers. Then they grew softer. "I know it sounds ridiculous, but I could feel the blocked chakra inside of me whenever I would try to firebend before. I could feel the energy flow inside me—then stop when it came to that point. But when I saw Azula hurting you, it was like that barrier lifted for just a few seconds. After that, I felt it close back down. I don't think I could do it again."

Zuko watched as an expression of doubt passed over the waterbender's face. "I'm being sincere!" he told her firmly. "I wouldn't lie to you—you're the first person since my uncle who's ever trusted me."

Katara's expression didn't fade, but she allowed the firebender one last chance to explain himself. "Okay…then tell me honestly _why_ you think that you're firebending came back only for a few seconds and then was blocked again."

Zuko's eyebrow turned up, he frowned unpleasantly, and for once he felt completely helpless. Gradually, his eyes dragged back down to the floor. He remembered the moment he'd first heard Katara's muffled whimper. It was barely audible, but he'd reacted quickly. When he saw Katara being held tightly by his sister, his heart had swelled with fear—and another, less recognizable, but equally strong emotion.

Zuko knew exactly why his firebending had so suddenly reappeared and then disappeared again when he knew Katara was in danger. He remembered learning about chi and the seven different chakras at the Fire Nation Royal Academy as a boy, and now he was finally beginning to put the mystery together.

_The fourth chakra is located in the heart, _he repeated his teachings to himself. _It deals with love and grief._

The firebender's eyes flickered back towards Katara. _Love and grief._

_I understand…_he thought as the realization flickered in his mind._ But I don't want to accept what is happening to me—and my heart. When Uncle told me that I needed to try to open my heart to others, I never meant for this to happen._

"Well, are you going to tell me or not?" Katara cut into his wandering thoughts impatiently.

"I—I can't," Zuko felt like he was choking on his own words.

"Why not?!" Katara grew angrier when she couldn't push an answer from the Prince. "And if you can't give me a straight answer then what's supposed to keep me from assuming you've been lying!"

"Because I told you—you're the only person whose ever trusted me besides my uncle—I wouldn't risk that!"

"That sounds like something a liar would say."

"I'm not a liar!"

Katara's eyebrows lowered. "Then _what_ are you, Zuko?"

The Prince's voice caught in his throat once more, and he could only stare blankly at the waterbending girl. He bit his lip nervously while Katara continued to seethe at him. The girl being difficult was only making this harder, and right now they really needed to concentrate on how they would break out of here and escape from Azula instead of interrogating him on why his firebending had suddenly returned.

"Can't we concentrate on escaping from my sister?" He asked softly.

"No!" Katara yelled. "You forget that I trusted you too, Zuko! How can I concentrate on anything else if I can't trust you?"

"But you can trust me!" Zuko persisted, leaning forward and grinding his teeth together. "Please, Katara! We don't have much time!"

"Why can't you tell me?!"

"Because I just can't right now, okay?!" Zuko finally admitted in a shout that seemed to rock their metal cage. Finally, Katara was silent and stayed that way.

"I promise I'll explain it to you as soon as we escape and then we can warn Aang, my uncle, and the others about Azula," Zuko promised genuinely, and he turned his eyes pleadingly towards the girl. "Please, Katara."

Katara blinked in surprise and shock. "Do you—do you really want to help Aang? You don't sound like the Zuko I remember."

"That's because I'm not that person anymore," the Prince elaborated. "I mean—I'm not going to try to be best friends with the Avatar—Aang—or anything, but I've earned your trust and if keeping it means that I have to give up my quest to capture him, then it's worth it."

Zuko sighed heavily and then glanced away. "At least, that's what I think."

"Do you really mean that?" Katara inquired, amazed at this sudden revelation in the firebender's character. "You think keeping my trust is worth the possibility that you'll never be welcome in your homeland again?"

Zuko's eyes grew dim with sadness, but he was determined. "Yes," he pledged quietly.

Katara allowed a small smile to grace her lips. Zuko watched as the corners of her mouth curved gracefully upward, framing her white teeth with those inviting lips of hers. He wondered again what it would be like to kiss those lips, but then dismissed the thought. He and Katara had to concentrate on escaping from this place.

"I guess you can keep my trust for now," she said, her smile growing a little wider. "But when we escape, you'd _better_ have a pretty impressive explanation for your firebending coming back."

_You have no idea,_ Zuko thought whimsically to himself.

"Alright then," Katara seemed to have adopted a much better mood quite suddenly. "So—any ideas on how to get out of these bonds without firebending?"

Zuko felt an idea settle in his head. "Here, scoot close to me, so we're back to back."

"Why?"

"Didn't you just decide to trust me?"

Katara made a face, but then nodded. "Point taken."

Slowly, the waterbender moved her body—first coiling her legs close to her torso, using the leverage she had to shift herself into position. Zuko did the same, and after a few awkward, squirming seconds they were back to back.

"Okay, now what?"

"Give me your hands,"

Katara's breath caught in her throat. "What?!"

"Just trust me," Zuko ordered her.

Nervously, Katara moved her hands behind her, stretching the muscles in her back so Zuko could reach. "Can you reach them?"

"Just a second. I can't see."

After a minute of searching for each other, Zuko finally reached out and grasped one of Katara's bound hands with his own. His fingers intertwined with hers almost immediately, and Katara was thankful that she wasn't facing the Prince as she felt the heat crawl up her neck and fill her cheeks. She was blushing, but Zuko seemed unmoved.

He continued moving his fingers around her own, feeling and searching, until Katara realized his goal—he was looking for the ends of the rope Azula had tied her up with. When the firebender found them, he worked quickly and quietly to undo the complex knot that bound her wrists together. Finally, she felt the bonds loosen and drop away. Sighing, she raised her hands in front of her face and examined her wrists. They weren't very painful, but there were harsh red lines circling her arms where they had been tied.

"Now undo the knots around your ankles and then help me," Zuko said, glancing at her over his shoulder.

"Okay, okay—give me a second," Katara leaned forward and hastily undid the ropes tied around her ankles, then turned around and began to work on Zuko's binds.

"Thanks," he muttered as he broke free of his ties.

"Now how to we get out of here?" Katara asked him, looking worriedly at the firebending Prince. "And where are we anyway?"

Zuko looked around the small cell they were trapped in. "We're on a train, apparently. At least that's what I heard Ty Lee say."

"Those Fire Nation girls? You know them?" Katara inquired curiously.

Zuko blinked, recalling memories of his childhood. "They're my sister's best friends since child hood. I've known them my entire life."

The waterbending girl made a face. "Don't they—don't they—you know, have conflicting feelings about capturing you then?"

Zuko looked towards the door. Katara had a way of coming up with the most unexpected questions. She actually tested how much knowledge he had about himself. "I don't think they care," he explained. "I mean, I'm a fugitive now. Not the Prince they knew."

"Oh," Katara replied awkwardly.

"Well, actually—Mai probably feels bad about it," Zuko reconsidered with a small smile.

Katara glanced at him with questions swimming in her sea-colored eyes. "Which one is she?"

"The dark one who looks bored all the time."

"Ah—that one," Katara nodded thoughtfully. "Why would she feel bad about capturing you?"

Zuko shrugged and continued his shy, embarrassed smile. "She's had a crush on me ever since we were little."

The waterbender's lips parted, but she said nothing in response. It was strange, thinking that Zuko had had a normal life years ago—well, besides from being royalty and having an evil, malicious, and power-hungry father and sister—and that even he had girls crushing on him be for he'd been disgraced, banished, and eventually labeled a criminal. She recognized the pinch of jealousy on her conscious, but it was slight, and easily brushed aside to concentrate on the issue at hand.

"I don't have my water skin, so I don't think I'm of any use to break us out of here," she admitted to the Prince with a sympathetic look. "I'm sorry."

"I'm not any good for bending either, remember."

Katara hung her head when she realized. "Oh yeah. Great—neither one of us have our bending. How on earth are we going to get out?"

"I—I don't know," the firebender whispered. "I guess we just have to wait for a miracle to happen."

Katara stood up and turned towards him, her hands placed on her hips. "Yeah right—like something like that will happen anytime soo—oo-woah!"

Suddenly the floor, walls, and ceiling of their small cell rocked violently. Katara tried to hold her footing, but she slipped and fell directly into Zuko's arms. As the cell was shaken by yet another brutal jolt, he held her tightly to his chest. Katara would have blushed even more furiously than before had she not been so afraid. It was if the world was turning end upon end. They slid, then rolled, then fell, and heard bits of the chaos that was taking place outside their tiny metal prison: shouts, screams, and the sounds of rocks, iron, and steel smashing together.

"We must be being—ah! Attacked!" Zuko yelled to Katara over the din.

Suddenly the cage turned over one last time, settling on its side with a mighty, loud creak of bending beams and metal. Katara had closed her eyes during the violent attack, but now she opened them curiously when she felt a weight upon her stomach and chest. Almost immediately she wanted to shut her eyes tightly again and pretend she wasn't there.

Zuko was on top of her. Not just on top of her, but his arms were still wrapped tightly around her shoulders and head, protecting her from the violent movements of their cell as it tumbled to and fro. On top of it all, their legs were intertwined and tangled, so she couldn't scoot out of the tiny space Zuko left for her when he finally lifted his body off hers.

Katara was mortified. She felt the blush creeping up onto her cheeks, and she looked away from the Prince, attempting to will it away. But the pinkish stain filled her face with warmth, and this time she couldn't pretend or try to hide it from him. Even though she turned her head away and her dark hair fell gracefully part of her face, she'd known that Zuko had seen her reaction. But the Fire Nation Prince seemed frozen in place, and he didn't move a muscle. Katara wondered how long he would stay like that before she finally worked up the courage to look at him. To her surprise, she saw a reddish flush—very similar to hers—filling Zuko's cheeks. Not only was he embarrassed, but he looked quite shocked finding himself on top of the girl.

The two benders' eyes met for a split second and it instantly snapped them from their humiliated stupor.

"Sorry!" They both muttered to one another at the same time, scooting as far away from their opposite as they could.

Katara once again found herself too afraid and embarrassed to even glance at the firebender after that encounter. She pulled her legs close to her chest and tucked herself into a corner that had once connected the wall to the ceiling. Then she heard Zuko softly call her name.

"Katara," he said in a strange, hushed manner. "Look!"

The waterbending girl looked curiously at Zuko, wondering what he could be in such awe of, but then he lifted a single, pointed finger and gestured to the door of their cell—now sideways—and hanging wide open. Katara felt the cool night breeze kiss her face, and she turned towards Zuko. All trace of his embarrassment had already gone, and his eyes glowed with intensity in the dim light.

"I want you to run as fast as you can, in any direction, okay?" He told her intently. "I'll be right behind you."

"Okay," Katara nodded, but somehow couldn't produce the will to get her shaky legs to begin moving.

When he saw the girl wasn't ready to run, Zuko got up and quickly crossed the room. Katara watched him with wide, surprised eyes as he reached down and grasped her hand in his tightly.

"Come on," the Prince urged, and with a sharp yank he pulled her out of the cell and into the moonlight.

Katara jumped gingerly from the damaged cage onto the softy, dewy grass. Zuko, despite what he had previously said, wasn't running. He pressed himself tightly to the outside of the cell—which by now Katara had positively identified as one of the giant iron cars that that hideous "train" had pulled behind it—and looked around with his candlelit eyes. The waterbender followed his lead, and she took in the surroundings.

They were in a forest, as she had theorized on their journey here. Ancient, immensely tall pine trees surrounded them; their fresh, crisp scent filled Katara's nostrils. The sound of their footsteps was muffled, replaced with a soft crunching of wet pine needles. And all around them—the waterbender noticed—was the evidence of a battle.

There were scorch marks marring the trunks of nearby trees—small fires still blazing here and there, their light casting eerie, flickering shadows amongst the host of gargantuan trees. Furthermore, there were boulders and various sizes of rocks littering the site—and Katara caught sight of what looked to be an Earth Kingdom soldier's helmet on the ground.

Zuko went ahead and said what they both were thinking. "Azula and the others must have been ambushed by Earth Kingdom forces."

"Do you think they saw us?" Katara whispered.

The Prince shook his head. "If they'd known about prisoners, I'd think that they would have freed them."

"But they _did_ kind of free us."

"I don't think it was intentional," Zuko replied grimly. "My sister and the others must have led them somewhere away from here."

The Prince turned to Katara and grasped her hand again. The waterbender tried her very hardest not to blush as he pulled her closer to him.

"We have to go—quickly—now," he whispered softly, looking into her azure eyes. "Whatever you do, don't stop running until I tell you to."

Katara nodded, and then she felt a tug on her arm. Before she knew it, she and Zuko were moving swiftly through the forest, hand-in-hand, and their feet flying over the crisp pine needles. The wide, dark trunks of trees passed on either side like hundreds of columns in an ancient, earthly temple. Katara felt her heart beating wildly against the wall of her chest, and she looked ahead of her at the Fire Nation Prince. Her eyes wandered from the back of his head to his shoulder, all the way down his arm to their fingers, tightly intertwined with each other. Her knuckles were turning white from clutching his hand so tightly.

_He doesn't have to be holding my hand through all of this,_ she thought. _And what he said before—about my trust being worth giving up hunting Aang—why is he acting like this? _

Katara remembered what Toph had said this afternoon. She could practically feel the gears in her brain turning, but suddenly her thought process was interrupted when she felt something whistle right past her ear.

"Ah!" She cried, and looked up in time to see two metal darts embed themselves deeply into the trunk of a nearby tree. She gasped when Zuko suddenly skidded to an abrupt stop and turned around to face the new threat on hand.

"Mai!" Zuko thought out loud as he realized who was coming for them, weaving her way through the expanse of tree trunks at a high speed, her voluminous robes flowing behind her.

"Zuko, I don't have any water!" Katara yelled at him in a panic.

Zuko stepped out in front of her, pushed her back, and adopted a firebending stance. "Remember, she doesn't know that I can't firebend," he whispered to her as Mai grew closer.

The dark-haired girl leapt over a fallen sapling as she closed in on the unlikely pair. She raised her arms, and from her long sleeves produced several sharp, shining metal knives. Katara grew more and more frightened for their safety as the other girl grew closer and closer and still Zuko didn't do anything. He just stood there, feigning a firebending stance, unmoving. But—she trusted Zuko for now—as she had promised.

Sure enough, even when she was well within range, Mai failed to throw the knives held tightly in her hands. She ran closer, until she was mere meters away from the couple of benders—then suddenly came to a halt, panting from her long felt the air grow tense. What was Zuko waiting for? Was he waiting for her to come close enough for him to attack her physically? Was he planning on trying to use firebending again? She shrank back as Zuko gradually relaxed his stance and faced the girl from his childhood. Her steely gaze collided with his, and for a moment the two Fire Nation youths were frozen in place by their stares. Finally, Zuko cleared his throat and spoke.

"Mai," Zuko whispered again; this time it sounded almost as if the name caused him pain. "I'm sorry about all this."

The girl's eyes narrowed into slits. "So am I, Zuko—but you were the one who made the choice to betray your country _and_ your friends."

"I didn't want to betray you," the Prince replied honestly.

"Well you did!" Mai's voice gathered in intensity as she continued. "We were friends once—we could have been more—but now you've reduced yourself to _this._" She spit out the last word as if it were poisonous.

"Then I must ask you—in the name of our friendship—if you'll let us go," Zuko urged her adamantly. "Mai, please."

The girl's eyes flashed a dangerous look towards the both of them and she raised her hand up again, the edges of her knives reflecting sharply in the darkness. "I can't let you do that," she said somewhat sadly.

"Mai—I'm telling you—you don't want to do this," Zuko took a hesitant step back as the girl prepared to throw. "Don't!"

"I'm doing what I have to do, Zuko," she replied coldly, and then curved her arm in a swift, deadly arc that sent her daggers flying towards them.

Katara screamed, but her cry was cut short when she felt something impact her chest. She tightly shut her eyes and waited for the pain to strike her, for the wound to ooze warm blood—but she felt none. She opened her eyes and realized that—once more—Zuko had shielded her from danger using his own body. She grabbed her by the collar and pulled her behind him before any one of Mai's knives could hit her. A sudden terror took over Katara's mind, even as she felt relief wash over her when she realized she was uninjured.

_What about Zuko?_

She blinked and stared at the Prince, who was till standing in front of her, turned towards her, and panting. She had unintentionally placed her hand upon his chest when he'd unexpectedly grabbed her, and she could feel his strong heartbeat thundering wildly against his rib cage. But he didn't seem to be in any pain. She looked past the firebender's shoulder and glimpsed Mai, her head hung low, her eyes downcast and hidden behind her thick, black bangs. A glint of metal caught the corner of her eye and she turned he head to see the daggers their pursuer had held in her hands just moments before. They were embedded deeply into the trunk of a tree trunk just behind her, inches away from where she and Zuko were standing.

Mai had missed—but she was only a few feet away. Katara looked again at the dark-haired, narrow-eyed girl standing solemnly in front of them.

Zuko seemed as disbelieving as the waterbender was. He turned around and opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out for a moment or two. Then, when his voice finally returned to him, he could only quietly utter her name.

"Mai," he murmured, his voice a mixture of awe and surprise.

The girl momentarily raised her dark head to glance at them from under lowered eyebrows. "Take her and get out of here. The river is straight ahead. Once you cross it Azula should lose your trail."

Zuko took another reluctant step back, and turned partially towards Katara, glancing in the direction of the river through the maze of trees. Then he looked back at his childhood friend affectionately.

"Mai, thank you," he said softly.

Mai inhaled sharply at the comment, but then glanced away. "Don't thank me, just get out of here! _Run!_" Her cries were the only thing Katara and Zuko needed to get moving again.

The Prince turned to the waterbender, his eyes glowing intently, and whispered: "Go."

Katara allowed him to grasp her hand one more time and pull her through the curtain of darkness that surrounded them. She looked back over her shoulder to see the still, statuesque figure of Mai fading away from view. Then she turned back, gathered her strength, and continued running.

She didn't look back a second time.

* * *

**PERSONAL THINGY:**

**I'M PRETTY UPSET RIGHT NOW, BECAUSE I JUST FINISHED TYPIING UP ALL OF MY REVIEWER RESPONSES TO YOU GUYS--AND MY STUPID COMPUTER CRASHED ON ME. NONE OF MY RESPONSES TO THE REVIEWS YOU GUYS LEFT ME WERE SAVED, AND I SPEND LIKE AN HOUR TYPING THEM UP! I'M ANGRY! GRR...**

**WELL, SINCE I DON'T HAVE ANOTHER HOUR TO TYPE THEM ALL AGAIN, I'M JUST LEAVING THEM OUT FOR NOW. BUT PLEASE KNOW WITH CERTAINTY THAT I TYPED UP EACH OF YOU SOME REALLY NICE, REALLY THANKFUL REVIEWS! I'M GOING TO RESUME MY REGULAR PRACTICE OF RESPONDING TO REVIEWS NEXT CHAPTER--SO PLEASE, EVEN THOUGH I DIDN'T RESPOND TO YOU THIS TIME, PLEASE _REVIEW_ TO TELL ME HOW YOU LIKED (OR DISLIK,ED) THIS CHAPTER! I ALSO LOST ANY CHANGES I MADE TO THE ACTUAL STORY BEFORE SUBMITTING IT--SO I APOLOGIZE IF THERE ARE SLIGHT SPELLING MISTAKES OR TYPOS YOU NOTICED.**

**ONCE AGAIN, I'M SO, SO SORRY FOR THE LACK OF REVIEWER RESPONSES ON THIS CHAPTER. REPLYING TO YOU GUYS IS IMPORTANT WITH ME, BUT TECHNOLOGY IS UNPREDICTABLE--AND NEXT TIME I'LL KNOW TO PRESS THE "SAVE" BUTTON. **

**SO AS A GENERAL REPLY TO ALL OF MY REVIEWERS, THANK YOU! YOU ARE EACH AND EVERY ONE OF YOU SO PRECIOUS TO ME! YOUR KIND WORDS AND RANDOM RAMBLINGS ABOUT TWILIGHT (EDWARD!) AND READING ANALYTICALLY AND ABSOLUTE GORGEOUSNESS REALLY TOUCH MY HEART. I'M LOOKING FORWARD TO HEARING FROM ALL OF YOU AGAIN!**

**~ROSEBLADE**

* * *


	11. The Experiment

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Avatar or any of its characters—just my genius plot!

_**IMPORTANT AUTHOR'S NOTE!!! EVERONE PLEASE READ!!!**_**:**

Hello everyone! First of all, let me apologize for the lateness of this chapter. I'd intended to have it up this last weekend, but as it turned out it was a pretty eventful weekend. I have some pretty once-in-a-lifetime news to share with you all:

_**My boyfriend of three years proposed!!! I'm engaged!!! GAAAAHH!! **_

My boyfriend and I had a date on Saturday, and he proposed classically and romantically, at the restaurant. I love my ring and I love my fiancé; we're planning to get married sometime during spring of next year. I'm so excited! So, anyway—that's the reason this chapter is late—because I've been busy enjoying myself with my new fiancé and spreading the joyous news. In a way, it's ironic how the most romantic chapter of my story and the most romantic chapter of my life are beginning together!

Anyway, other than the recent romantic leap in my relationship, I hope you're ready for some romance between our two favorite Avatar characters after a long, tension-filled, ten-chapter wait! The moment is finally here! Enjoy, and once again, thank you to all of my readers and reviewers for supporting my writing! I'm becoming very proud of this story.

Oh—and this chapter is dedicated to **Psalm 136**, who I consulted about writing steamy love scenes! I don't know if she actually reads my stories or not, but a shout out can't hurt one way or another! Thank you, my friend—I think your advice helped! And even though the content of this chapter barely teeters on the edge of erotic, I'll let you know that I tried my best to write without succumbing to my embarrassment!

I'll let my readers know that this is the hottest Zuko/Katara interactions I've ever attempted to write (although it's not a super-hot romp as you all might imagine—just a kiss) and I did borrow some of it from the Twilight movie if you recognize it—but I'm feeling a strange sense of both pride and uncertainty in my work this chapter, so please slay the unnecessary uncertainty and _**REVIEW, REVIEW, REVIEW!!!**_

* * *

**CHAPTER ELEVEN**

* * *

Zuko held tightly to Katara's hand as the two benders raced through the darkened forest. Every tree, bush, or patch of rocks seemed just a blur as they increased their speed, running at their maximum, in order to reach the river before they could be apprehended again.

Zuko was still coming to terms with what Mai had done. Sure—she'd called him a traitor

and had expressed her anger at him for destroying the life he'd built in the Fire Nation—but then she'd turned completely around and betrayed her Princess, her country, and everything she knew in order to allow the former Prince and the Water Tribe girl to leave. Zuko hoped that when it came down to it, Mai was a good liar. He was unbelievably thankful of the girl from his childhood finding the compassion to allow them to go free—but he realized what sort of penalty she'd face if Azula found out what had happened.

_I can't worry about that right now,_ Zuko told himself as he shook away the thought that plagued him. _Right now I have to find the river so Katara and I can be safe._

The firebender pressed on, still gripping Katara's hand as he led her through the vast expanse of forest that stretched out before them—seemingly going on forever. His muscles grew weary and tired and began to ache, his deep hearty breaths became short, shallow pants desperate for air—and Zuko imagined the situation was worse for Katara, but she didn't complain. She gripped his hands as tightly has he held hers and closely followed him as they flew through the woods.

Finally, Zuko felt a fresh breeze and heard the tiny sound of trickling water. He weaved through the remaining trees like a deer escaping a predator and tore through the edge of the forest. Katara was right behind him, and then the pair stopped to allow their breath to catch up with them. Zuko stood tall and cautiously observed their surroundings once more, while the waterbender doubled over, her hands on her knees, and inhaled in colossal, giant breaths of fresh air.

"Are you okay?" Zuko inquired. His voice came out sounding more worried than he expected.

The girl raised a hand and waved it nonchalantly. "I'll be—fine in a minute," she said between gulps of oxygen her aching lungs craved.

Zuko looked ahead of them and into the darkness. Without the canopy of the forest to shield light from them, the landscape was illuminated. He saw before them a small, shallow river—the moonlight glinting off its clear waters, it's trickling and lapping sounds singing in his ear. He stepped towards the still-doubled-over Katara and—after some hesitation—gingerly placed his hand on her back.

"We need to cross," he told her. "Are you strong enough to use your waterbending?"

Katara stood up, and Zuko withdrew his hand. The waterbender reached up with her sleeve and wiped away the beads of sweat that had accumulated on her brow during their long sprint through the forest. Her hair—usually carefully braided and designed in a traditional Water Tribe style—was loose and wild from the wind pulling its fingers through it. A few strands fell over her face as she looked at the Fire Nation Prince with eyes that caught and reflected the moonlight as if she herself were a spirit. For a moment, Zuko felt hypnotized by her beauty.

_I never really appreciated it when she was—my target,_ the Prince mused, his thoughts taking him back to memories past. _But now her beauty is absolutely impossible to ignore. _

"Zuko, did you hear me?" Katara's voice filling his ears snapped Zuko back to reality.

"What?" He asked, feeling foolish for becoming lost in the waterbender's eyes. "Sorry."

"I can waterbend," she repeated determinedly, gesturing towards the river.

Despite his best efforts, Zuko couldn't help his eyes from being dragged down to watch Katara's enticing lips move. He knew that once the pair of benders crossed the river ahead that his explanation was due—but how could he tell her? What on earth would he say?

"Oh. Okay. Let's go." He pushed the words from his mouth reluctantly, and willed his feet to step forward towards the banks of the writhing water.

The water near his feet suddenly retreated, shifting and moving to reveal the mult-colored, rough pebbles beneath. He glanced over at Katara and saw that she had begun bending the water. Unsure of how to react to her bending, he waited for her to cut a path of clear land through the water before moving in behind her, his feet squishing in the mud.

Zuko looked up at the shallow walls of water that Katara was manipulating on either side of them, stretching them up and out of their way. He glanced at the waterbender, whose limbs were moving from side to side, carving graceful, elegant arcs in the air as she skillfully manipulated her element—and again wondered how he could complete his end of their bargain once they reached the other side of the river.

That moment came too soon for Zuko, for a moment later he pressed his foot down into solid rock and climbed up the opposite riverbank. Not a drop of water had fallen on either he or the waterbender. Katara turned around, as lithely as a dancer, and then dropped her arms. Immediately, the water in the river mimicked her movement, and then went on bubbling and trickling in its gentle, steady stream, as if nothing had ever happened there.

Katara turned to Zuko expectedly. "Are you coming?"

Zuko glanced back at her, blinking. "Sorry,"

"What's gotten you distracted all of a sudden?" Katara crossed her arms in front of her chest and shifted her weight to one side. She shot the firebender a skeptical look.

"Uh…I think that we should move a little further away from the riverbanks before we stop," Zuko attempted to hide what he was really thinking and buy himself more time to figure out the situation. "Just in case Azula searches near the river—we'll be safer further off."

Katara's eyes shifted to the tall trees across the river. She bit her lip in nervousness, but then nodded. "We don't have to run this time, do we?"

"No, let's walk."

Katara joined Zuko by his side as they began to make their way across the landscape stretched out before them. They crossed through a grove of small trees, passed a gaping ravine, and jogged through a meadow before discovering the perfect hiding spot—a small, secluded cave, its entrance hidden by a tangle of brambles and bushes. Zuko thoroughly inspected the space before allowing Katara to settle down inside. Then the firebending Prince gathered an assortment of the driest sticks, leaves, and branches and scattered them around the entrance of the cave. Katara watched him curiously.

"This way, if someone tries to come near the entrance, they'll stop on the dry sticks and we'll hear them coming," Zuko explained as he finished his task.

"Shouldn't we light a fire?" Katara asked hesitantly. She sat down on the dusty floor of the cave, gathered her knees to her chest, and pressed herself to the cave wall opposite of Zuko. "It's getting cold."

Zuko glanced at the shivering waterbender sympathetically. "Sorry—without my firebending we have no way of lighting a fire. And besides—light will only attract predators."

"Are you talking about your sister or an animal?"

"I'm talking about both."

"Oh," Katara sighed heavily and then allowed her eyes to wander around their new hiding spot. Her eyes anxiously settled on Zuko, and she watched the Prince sit down and get comfortable across from her.

The two benders shared uncomfortable stares for a moment, and then a thought flickered to life in Katara's mind—something she'd forgotten in all the chaos. "Zuko?" she called out his name tenderly.

"Yeah?"

"Can you explain to me _now_ why your firebending suddenly came back?"

Zuko's breath caught in his throat. So—the moment he'd both dreaded and dreamed of had finally come. He glanced seriously at the waterbender, the fire behind his eyes burning brighter in the darkness of their hideaway.

"It's less of an explanation," he told her slowly and deliberately. "And more of an experiment, I think."

Katara raised on eyebrow doubtfully. "An experiment? How so?"

"I'm going to try to recreate the situation that happened when my firebending came back, and then I'm going to try to see if it happens again," Zuko explained. "You'll have to do exactly what I say."

"Okay…" the waterbender seemed unimpressed and slightly confused. "But how are we going to recreate that situation? It's not like we're in real danger anymore."

"That's not what I meant," Zuko corrected himself, shaking his head. "I meant that I want to recreate the way I _felt_ that moment."

"Well," Katara ventured hesitantly deeper into the conversation. "How did you feel?" Her blue eyes were wide with some emotion Zuko couldn't make out. Curiousity? Anxiousness?

"Like I said, it's hard to explain." Zuko closed his eyes, and took a deep breath to calm his shaky nerves and thundering heart. "So please, do what I say."

The firebender opened his eyes and looked piercingly at Katara. He felt the butterflies begin to flutter wildly in his stomach, but swallowed heavily and pushed back the uneasy feeling. It was now or never. He scooted across the small space and knelt just in front of the waterbender. Katara regarded him with curious eyes, but she leaned back a bit as the firebender grew closer. Zuko tried his very hardest to hide his nervousness. He knew what he was about to do—but the waterbender didn't—and he couldn't imagine her reaction.

_Try not to think about it,_ he coaxed himself silently_. Just do it._

"Close your eyes," he commanded, his voice soft and low.

Katara cocked her head and made a face. "What?"

"Katara!"

Zuko's golden eyes flickered at her heatedly, and finally the girl obeyed. Katara's lashes gently fluttered closed, and the Prince silently breathed a sigh of relief. Doing this would be much easier without those beautiful, azure eyes staring at him. Now he could look at her without feeling that fluttering, nervous feeling in his stomach.

Katara frowned impatiently. "Now what?"

"Now whatever I do, stay very still," Zuko told her softly.

The Prince watched as a slightly irritated expression crossed the waterbender's face for a moment, then vanished. Katara breathed inhaled deeply, and then exhaled. Zuko's eyes strayed downward to her hands. Instead of being delicately folded on her lap, her fingers were tightly gripping the material of her robes. Katara was on edge about something, but he wasn't sure exactly what made her so nervous. Maybe she was still shaken from their close call with Mai. Perhaps she was afraid of him. Maybe she was just afraid of the situation they were in.

Zuko glanced back up at Katara's face. She was so beautiful, he thought, over and over and over again to himself. He felt helpless to stop his feelings for her from spilling out. It was as if his heart had turned into a wheel that constantly turned over, going nowhere, but crushing all the reason and logic he possessed under it. He knew that this warm, anxious emotion he felt rushing through every vein in his body was wrong. But when he looked at her—when he heard the soft trickle of her voice, like bright, clear water from a spring—and when he allowed himself the luxury of touching her, he knew that he had no choice.

Zuko watched with fascination Katara's plush lips part gently as she waited for him to do something. Her dark, elegant lashes fluttered lightly, and she gripped the material on her robes even tighter, turning the skin stretched over the knuckles to pale white. Her skin was luminous in the scattered moonlight that shone through the leaves and branches at the entrance of the cave, and her eyebrows were upturned in an anxious, vulnerable expression. A few more strands of her hair slipped from her crown and floated down to frame her face.

Katara pressed her lips together, and then parted them again, unconsciously peeking her tongue out from between her teeth. Finally, just when he thought he couldn't stand the sight of her any longer, Zuko took one last deep breath—even though he realized this time it would do nothing to calm his nerves—and leaned ever so slightly forward.

"Stay completely still," he repeated in a hushed, intense whisper.

Katara responded accordingly, not even offering a sound in reply. Zuko moved ever closer. His eyes drifted back down to her inviting, pink lips, and he very nearly groaned in frustration. The butterflies in his stomach felt more like coiling, twisting serpents, squeezing his insides so tightly he was afraid to even breathe. Very slowly, he leaned a little farther forward, and raised his hands up gently towards Katara's perfect, gorgeous face. He didn't dare touch her just yet, but paused there in that awkward position, allowing himself the time to think about turning back.

Katara's face grew more and more uneasy as the moments passed by and nothing happened. "Zuko?" she said his name tenderly.

"Don't move," the Prince commanded, his voice strained with restlessness.

Katara's worried expression faded slightly, but her eyes remained closed, and she obeyed. The firebender was so close now that he could feel her warm, shuddering breaths on his cheeks. Zuko waited one final, precious moment, and then closed the distance between them—and kissed Katara.

Zuko's lips delicately brushed the surface of hers for only an instant, but then he surrendered to his deepest desires and pressed his lips to hers with passion. Katara reacted with a tiny gasp, but it was quickly silenced as Zuko's hands wandered away from delicately cupping her face; instead they tangled themselves in the wild, loose curls of the waterbender's hair and pulled her even closer to him. His mouth closed tightly over hers, and Zuko took advantage of the waterbender's gently parted lips and gently pushed his tongue past her them, exploring and tasting her mouth—she was delicious. To his great surprise and pleasure, Katara barely resisted the sudden, unexpected, and very powerful kiss.

Zuko knew that he'd done enough—if his theory about his firebending abilities was correct, he should feel the block in his chakra lifting, clearing a path for his energy to flow freely throughout his body. However, the Prince was so caught up in his desire for Katara that the only thing he could feel was fire coursing through his veins. He couldn't gather up the will power to end the kiss yet. His tongue traced the over waterbender's plush lips delicately and deliberately, and then Katara did something that Zuko truly didn't expect.

The low, breathy sound began as a slight vibration deep in her chest, then traveled up her throat before escaping Katara's lips. She had moaned, and it's desperate, soft resonance was all it took to drive Zuko over the edge of his better judgment. His lips captured hers once more in a fiery embrace, and he became so caught up in the feeling of her taste, her supple, subtle scent, and the softness of her skin that he barely noticed that Katara was actually kissing him back. He was vaguely aware of her arms delicately snaking themselves around his neck, one hand weaving itself into the hair at the back of his head, pressing his lips even more firmly to hers; the other wandering lower, clutching the fabric on the firebender's shirt with her fingers. Unable to resist, Zuko reached behind Katara and lifted her small body up onto his lap, her legs straddling his. Then he pressed her back again, supporting her as her weight settled gently onto the cave floor.

Zuko hovered over Katara's body, continuing to smother her with his endless, insistent kisses. His arms shook from the tension of holding his body up and away from hers, and Katara wasn't helping—her hands continued to urgently clutch at his back in a feeble attempt to hold him closer. He groaned in frustration, but his time, the Prince found the strength within himself to resist her efforts. As much as he desired it, if he went any further he knew he wouldn't be able to control himself. Zuko could barely contain his lust as it were, and his carnal thoughts began to frighten him as they grew stronger and stronger with every tug on his robes.

_I've taken this too far, too soon, _he realized regretfully.

It took every ounce of willpower in Zuko's body to tear himself away from Katara's tempting lips and embrace. Once he did, his entire body ached from the sudden upset in the brief tryst. He could feel his heart's desperate thundering begin to slow and soften; the hot blood rushing through his veins cooled and he felt the flush that had taken over his skin withdraw. However, an offended, whining sound burst from the waterbender's lips as he parted from her and retreated to the other side of the cave. Zuko dug his fingertips into the dirt below him, and then struggled to catch his breath and regain his clear thinking. He watched as Katara propped herself up and cast him a surprised, vulnerable glance. She slowly sat up, her breathing ragged and shallow, her eyes staring endearingly into his.

"Was that the experiment?" she asked shyly, after a long pause.

Zuko lowered her eyebrows and swallowed. His throat felt like parched sand. "I told you not to move," he breathed huskily, frowning at her. "I said 'Whatever I do, stay completely still!' And you didn't!"

Katara blinked in shock. Was Zuko actually blaming her for their sudden, passionate union? She felt the heat begin to leak into her blood. "How was I supposed to know that you were going to kiss me?" She retorted confidently.

"How was I supposed to know that _you_ would kiss me_ back_?" Zuko shot right back.

Katara was struck speechless. Here eyes fluttered down to the ground and she sighed. Then she looked up her face set determinedly in a skeptical expression. "Was that the experiment?" She repeated, casting her bright eyes down on the Prince.

Zuko sucked in a sharp breath. In his passion, he'd almost completely forgotten the practical reason he'd had for kissing Katara. Slowly, he lifted a tentative, trembling hand up in front of him. He hadn't really been aware of the barrier blocking his fourth chakra lifting in the midst of their fevered kissing, so he wasn't sure if this would work or not. Zuko closed his eyes and concentrated on forming a small flame.

He felt his energy flowing throughout his body, coursing through his veins and flooding his muscles with chi, and waited. Suddenly he felt a tiny flare of heat, and he cracked open his eyes. Katara gasped.

In Zuko's hand, he held a tiny, barely flickering flame. The Fire Nation Prince stared at it in awe, having trouble believing that he'd actually produced this small, seemingly insignificant wisp of fire. The tiny flame barely stood up to the gentle breeze that weaved through the brambles at the entrance to their hideaway and brushed against their cheeks. Afraid his flame might go out, Zuko attempted to give it more juice. He concentrated his intense gaze on the flickering yellow light in his hand and waited for his energy to kick in.

Remarkably, the minuscule flame flared into a larger one. Zuko gasped and held his hand farther away from his face, surprised by the size of it, and worried that he might singe his remaining eyebrow.

"You can firebend again!" Katara exclaimed happily, a wide smile accenting her features.

Zuko blinked in amazement at her, then waved the larger flame around at bit, then closed his palm and put the fire out. He opened his other hand and another fire suddenly burst into life. He tossed the flames between his hands for a moment, and then smiled genuinely.

"I guess I can," he murmured, his eyes never leaving the dancing flames.

Katara slide closer to him. "So—the experiment was successful?"

Zuko's smile faded into an uncertain expression, and with a flick of his wrist he put the fire out and glanced at the waterbending girl. "I think so," he said.

Katara smiled shyly and blushed, but her eyes were sad. "So did you kiss me because you wanted your firebending back or did you kiss me because you actually wanted to?"

"I kissed you because—" Zuko had trouble putting his thoughts into words. "—because when you were captured and I suddenly could bend again I realized something."

"What? You realized what?"

Zuko regarded Katara as she blinked at him eagerly. "The fourth chakra is located in the heart and deals with love and grief. I think that the reason I couldn't firebend after Azula shot me full of lightening was because I'd already closed off my heart to everyone I knew—and therefore I closed my fourth chakra, inhibiting my ability to firebend. I needed to learn to love again in order to gain it back."

The Prince's eyes glanced down at the cave floor and then back up again at Katara, whose bright eyes had grown wider. One hand moved up to cover her lips, which were silently forming the shape of the perfect "O." Finally, Katara seemed to regain her composure, and she leaned forward and glanced shyly at the firebender.

"Zuko, what are you saying?"

"I—uh…" Zuko's breath hitched in his chest, and he cast his eyes downward. "I don't know, Katara, I have these strong feelings for you—obviously—but I don't know what they mean. I've never felt this way before."

Zuko's eyes flickered back up to gauge the girl's reaction, but Katara's expression hadn't changed. He decided to continue: "All I know is whenever you look at me, my heart literally skips a beat. When I touch you, it's like the rest of the world disappears. And when I kissed you—" Zuko sighed heavily at the thought, and then shook his head in frustration. "—I don't know what I'm saying."

Katara smiled. "It's okay—you don't have to say it."

"I think I'm beginning to fall in love with you, Katara." Zuko admitted, the words tumbling out of his mouth before he could stop them. He gasped afterward, as if he was amazed by his own statement, but there was no denying his feelings. Anxiously, he glanced up at Katara to see how she'd reacted to the news.

Katara's jaw had dropped open in shock, and she covered her open mouth with her hands. Slowly, however, her hands slid downward, until a solitary finger brushed her lips lightly. Her eyes shone more brightly than ever as she struggled to regain the power to speak.

"Do you—do you really mean that?" She asked, her voice a barely audible whisper.

Zuko turned away, but nodded. "I wouldn't say it if I didn't mean it."

Katara sighed. "I know," she said, and she moved closer to the Prince. After a moment's hesitation, she added: "I think I feel the same way."

The firebender's head snapped back, his eyes wide, as he heard the waterbender's silky voice utter those few words. "What did you say?"

"I don't know how to put what I'm feeling into words, but my heart skips a beat every time you look at me too," she explained, pressing her hand to her chest for emphasis. "And it's been like this for a long time now."

"Oh," Zuko reacted with the same shock Katara had just a moment before, but then a small smile curved gracefully across his face as the realization dawned on him. "I never knew. That must have been why you were acting so strange around me."

Katara giggled nervously. "Yeah, that pretty much explains it."

The waterbender looked at Zuko endearingly and then gently pressed her palm to the side of his face. Zuko sighed softly and closed his eyes, attempting to suppress the shudders that seemed to naturally accompany Katara's touch. Then he suddenly felt the waterbender's lips press against his. Zuko gave in to the kiss at first, tentatively weaving his hands around Katara's waist as she wound her arms around his neck, but then his eyes snapped open and he pulled away. The waterbender blinked at him in surprise and disappointment.

"No, we can't do this," he told her firmly…and sadly.

Katara stretched out her arms in confusion as the Prince distanced himself fro her. "What? Why? I thought that—"

"Katara, listen to me." Zuko cut in his voice sharp like the edge of a blade. "This is _not_ a date. We can't just make out all night and pretend that we're not in danger here."

The waterbender's face formed a frown that creased deeply into her face. She looked down at the dusty ground below them and then back up again. "I don't understand," she muttered, hurt.

"I'm not trying to hurt you," Zuko insisted sincerely. "But we have to think rationally about this."

"What do you mean?"

"Like I said—this isn't a date. Azula and her friends are going to be looking for us. We don't know where we are, and we have to find a way to get back to the others and warn them about the danger. We can't concentrate on all that if our heads are all wrapped up in this pointless romance."

"Pointless?" Katara gasped. "How could you tell me that you're falling in love with me and then take it back and say that it's pointless? How on earth do you see that as trying _not_ to hurt me?"

Zuko gritted his teeth and clenched his fists. "Katara, have you even stopped to think about what a future with me would be like? Do you honestly think, even if we gave it our all, that the rest of the world would understand?"

Katara blinked, but didn't respond, so the firebender continued. "First of all, I'm sure you're brother would try to kill me. Second of all—we're both fugitives—and you have an even bigger quest to worry about—training the Avatar to defeat my father. Where would I fit in?"

The girl pressed her lips together tightly, and her eyes darted from Zuko to the ground and then back again. Then she spoke: "You could teach Aang firebending. You could play a part in ending this war."

Zuko didn't expect an answer like that, and he was visibly taken aback by her conclusion. "What about your brother—the others—"

"It would take them a while—but I know that eventually they'd all learn to trust you as I have."

Zuko looked solemnly up at Katara; he seemed afraid. "Is that what you really want, Katara? For me to teach the Avatar firebending?"

"It's what I originally wanted from you," Katara admitted, crossing her arms in front of her chest and slumping against the wall of the cave. "After you and Sokka got into that fight, they wanted to kick you and your uncle out. But I convinced them that if we let you stay and I healed you that you might eventually become Aang's firebending teacher someday."

This time it was Zuko turn to not respond, and Katara went on: "But then I began to have feelings for you—and now—and now I want you to stay because—well, because I'm selfish."

"Selfish?" Zuko echoed, not understanding what the waterbender meant.

"What I mean is—I want you to stay because—I just want you to stay…with me," Katara said awkwardly. She shrugged her shoulders and waited nervously for Zuko to respond.

The firebender,'s brow furrowed, he frowned, and then turned away. It was so hard for him to articulate what he wanted. Of _course_ he wanted to be with Katara—he was falling in love with her—just as he claimed. But he was so afraid of investing his fragile emotions in a relationship that he thought was destined to fail. However, Katara had a point. He could have a role to play in their group, even if that meant betraying his father. His frown grew deeper at the thought.

_It's not as if betraying my father would be a big deal—I'm already a traitor in his eyes. _He thought. _And then maybe—just maybe—Katara and I could have a chance._

Zuko flinched when he felt Katara's hand set lightly on his shoulder. "Zuko, you asked me to trust you. Now I'm asking you to trust me," she told him softly. "I know the world as we know it may be close to an end if we don't succeed at this, but I believe that in that kind of situation—if you find something as good as love—then you should hang onto it for as long as you can. Because it can slip away so easily."

"You're talking about your mom, not just me, aren't you?" Zuko glanced at the hand on his shoulder and then at Katara, his eyes sad but understanding.

"And your mother too," the waterbender nodded.

Zuko turned back and took a deep breath. Katara was right. He hadn't appreciated his mother enough when she was there for him. Then, when she suddenly disappeared, he realized how important she was to him, and regretted not getting the chance to tell her. Zuko also knew that if he abandoned his feelings for Katara, he might never come across those feelings ever again during his lifetime. His mind made up, he glanced back at the waterbender with his golden-yellow eyes.

"I trust you, Katara," he said. "I'll do it. I'll stay with you _and_ I'll teach Aang firebending when he's ready."

Zuko found the girl suddenly wrapped around him in a joyous embrace. "Thank you, Zuko," she told him happily. "I promise you won't regret it."

Zuko smiled in return, and he practically lost himself in the smell of her hair, but he replied: "I know I won't regret it, Katara. But you must promise me something."

The firebender placed both his hands on the waterbender's shoulders and held her firmly in front of him. He stared into her curious azure eyes with his seriously. "We're not out of danger yet. Azula and her friends are still out there, and I have a feeling we haven't seen the last of them. Just promise me that you won't risk your own life trying to protect my own. It's my job to protect you—and I'd never forgive myself if you were hurt because of me."

"But Zuko," Katara's brow furrowed and she frowned as she placed her hands on each of the Prince's arms. "What if you get hurt trying to protect me?"

"Then I don't want you to interfere. I want you to use that opportunity to get out of there alive with the rest of your friends."

Katara shook her head. "But that's so selfish of you! To say that when I'm in danger you can risk your life protecting me, but when you're in danger I have to turn around and abandon you? I can't do that!"

"Those are my terms, Katara." Zuko said firmly. "Please, promise me."

The waterbender's mouth opened and closed several times, but she could only push out a few barely audible words from her lips. "But—I—you—"

"Promise me," Zuko persisted, leaning closer to her, and he gave her shoulders a gentle squeeze with each of his hands. "Please."

Katara shook her head in protest, but said nothing. She dropped her head, her hair falling in a dark curtain over her shoulders, and casting her face in shadows. The waterbender recognized the stinging sensation in her eyes as tears forming and threatening to spill droplets onto the floor. She squeezed her eyes tightly shut in an attempt to stop it. This was so unfair—but she knew in her heart that Zuko would do anything—even risk give up his life—to protect her anyway, and she was desperate for any way to keep Zuko with her after this was all over.

"I promise," she said weakly. "I promise, Zuko."

Zuko breathed a silent sigh of relief. "Thank you, Katara," he said.

The Prince leaned forward and embraced the waterbender tightly. He felt Katara's body stiffen, and then gradually melt into his arms as he held her. Gradually, her hands snaked their way under his arms and returned the hug, but she buried her head into his shoulder and he felt the wetness of her tears on his robes. He felt terrible for upsetting Katara, but he had comfort in knowing that if the situation was desperate enough, she'd promised to get away and save her own life before sacrificing it to save his. Now—now that he'd realized how much he cared for this girl—and how his developing love was growing stronger with every passing second he spent with her—he knew that Katara's safety was his number one priority.

_I'd give my life to save her, _he swore the secret oath to himself. _I just hope that it doesn't have to come down to that._

Zuko held Katara closer, then gingerly dipped his head and kissed the nap of her neck. He imagined their enemies somewhere out there, savagely searching for them, like predacious animals with a hunger only for power and blood. He knew that he'd not seen the last of Azula. He'd made Katara swear to him a promise that would be difficult to keep. And he'd made up his mind that if Katara was in danger, he'd sacrifice his life to save hers.

Still, Zuko closed his eyes and prayed for the small chance that his decision was one he'd never have to act on. He prayed for the small possibility that the ideal future might still be in store for he and Katara if they got through this alive. And finally, he prayed that he would be strong enough to endure whatever the actual future would have in store for them.

* * *

_**PERSONAL THINGY:**_

Yayness! Another long chappy for my lovely readers and reviewers! And this time, it had some steamy kissing scenes! Please, review and make sure to tell me what you thought about them—I was blushing as I wrote it! REVIEW!!

READER RESPONSES ARE BELOW!

**Heihachi Katayama:** Thanks so much. Yeah, crashing computers is no fun, especially when the thing is your damned lifeline to the rest of the world. Thanks for your review, and I appreciate your response!

**Handerra:** Thank you! I'm glad you thought I did a good job! Hopefully you thought the same for this chapter. Thanks again!

**ML7:** Yay! Good, life-changing news for both of us! I'm glad you got your diploma and got good grades! Isn't it a relief to know? Anyway, thanks so much for you compliments. I wonder how you felt about this chapter because Zuko's firebending IS back to normal now! Let me know what you thought! Thanks again!

**Wicca in training:** She sure did! Thanks for your review, I appreciate it very much!

**AnimeFanGirlWrites4ever:** Thanks! I'm glad you thought everyone was still in character! And of course—Zutara goodness. I try very hard to inject a good amount of that ingredient in every one of my chapters. Sorry about your computer and sorry for making you wait such a long time for this chapter! Thanks again for you reviews!

**NorthernLights:** Thanks for your kind words! I appreciate them so much. Hopefully you've enjoyed this chapter as much as the last! Thanks again, and sorry for making you wait! Hopefully the wait was worth it!

**Crystal Inferno:** YAY! I'm very happy you thought the interaction between Mai and Zuko was in-character! I was worried a little about that. Oh—and I'm totally on the same page with you about Mai and Zuko's sudden relationship! There were no more than two brief references to their liking each other in the actual show in Book 2, and then suddenly their making out in Book 3!

My opinion is that when the creators saw how big Zutara was getting (something I doubt they expected) after the episode "The Waterbending Scroll" in Book 1, they decided they needed to get Zuko a love interest before it got out of control (which it did anyway) and so they took Mai and made them fall in love. Personally, I think it was a cheap shot. I understand that the main character of the series was Aang—and of course the main character gets the pretty girl—but seriously? A Zuko/Katara relationship would have made for a much more dramatic, less predictable ending to the series. But—we can't get everything we wish for—and that what fanfiction is for! LOL.

I'm very glad you like the plot line—with the chakras and how in order to get his bending back Zuko must learn to open his heart and learn to love again—despite all the pain he's experienced in his life. You said it was "poetic" and "touching!" SQUEEE!!! Thank you so much!! Thank you also for saying that Ty Lee is in character—she's a bit of a difficult one for me just because we don't know much about her past. I'm very thankful for the episode "The Beach" for at least giving us a clue as to where she came from. Maybe I'll take your suggestion into context in later chapters….

Thank you so much (again), and Happy 2009 mon ami!

**Empty-spaces:** Thanks for your compliments! I'm glad you liked the last action-packed chapter, and I hope you also enjoyed this romance-packed chapter! I'm pleased to hear that a lot of people really like my ideas about the chakras and how Zuko's relationship with Katara is eventually teaching him how to open his heart—and therefore regain his bending ability. I liked the spat between Katara and Zuko in the train car too! That was fun to write, because I needed just a little bit of mistrust to still put some strain on their relationship. Oh—and yeah—if she had learned how to by the time my story takes place in the Avatar Canon, Katara could have pulled water out of the air to help them escape—but this turned out to be much more interesting, didn't it? LOL. Thanks for reading and reviewing!

**Fourth Seraphim:** Thank you so much for your kind words. I appreciated your review! I hope you enjoyed this chapter as much as the last, and I apologize for the long time between updates! Thanks so much again!

**Doctor Anthony:** Thanks so much for reviewing again! And no—I haven't had the chance yet to look at your stories—with the holidays and now getting engaged—I'm really busy! I'm sorry! But I have some advice for you—most of the time comments left by people are two kinds: Plain rude or helpful. Both might make you doubt in your ability to write, but here's my advice: Ignore the plain rude ones—they were obviously made by people who have no manners, and if they have bad mannerisms they can't be very good judges of character or fiction. As for the reviews that offer you help, try not to take them personally, because the reviewer must have liked your story enough (and cared enough) to offer you some suggestions. I hope I lifted your spirits! Keep writing—practice makes perfect! Thanks again!

**Dontwaitupxx:** Hey there! I'm glad you liked the length and the action-packiness of the last chapter! This one had less action—or more—depending on how you see it! LOL!!! Hell yes, it would have been an interesting, thrilling, although gory ride if Zuko had actually been hit by Mai's flying daggers. But alas…that was not the plotline my cruel, abusive muse bid me to walk upon. I'm sure I'll have plenty of violence later in the story!

Thank you so much for not reaching through the computer and punching me after my cliffhanger from chapter nine! LOL.

Oh, and I'm glad you found my idea for my next story interesting. I'm not planning on having that story interfere with the quality or the updating of this story—my life in general tends to do that more often than not. You will not be without your quality Zutara goodness!

GAH!! Do not tell me what happens in the Twilight series! I haven't read it yet! I haven't the slightest clue what goes on in the final book! I'm only on the second book now (I liked the first) and I like it so far, despite the lack of Edward. And the sad deterioration of Jasper's self control in the beginning that started it all. I feel sorry for him. *hugs a vampire*

Thanks for another long, funny, and awesome review! I hope you enjoyed this chapter as much as you appeared to like the last!

**K-naille:** Thanks for your compliments on my last chapter! I hope you like this one as much as the last. Oh—and has the masquerade plot been used before? I didn't know that! Thanks for the heads up! I'll definitely try to keep it quality and original now. Again, thanks for your review!

**Charizardag:** Thanks for your sympathy about my stupid computer. It's not crashed since my last post, so for now we're on good terms. And thanks for your review! I'm glad you liked!

**Avatargirl92:** I'm glad you enjoyed the scene with Mai. I enjoyed writing it. Thanks very much for your kind compliments; they're very much appreciated!

**Niori:** Thanks for the compliments! I hope you liked this chapter as much as the last! Thanks again!

**Anawey:** As always, Azula will always be lurking in the back of the plotline, waiting for the ultimate climactic moment to strike! Thanks for your kind words. I'm glad you liked this chapter and I hope you liked this one just as much! (or more!) Thanks again.

**Yemi Hikari:** I'm glad you enjoyed the portrayal of Mai in the last chapter! I hope you'll like the love scene in this chapter…I worked long and hard on it! And thank you so much for your encouragement with my other story. I'm definitely trying to make it as original and explanatory as possible. I hate stories that don't explain things thoroughly just like I hate stories in which the characters are completely out of character. The way I see it is that I have to remain true to the awesome nature of the show itself, and only try to improve on it, not change it completely. Anyway, thanks very much for your compliments!

**Saucebender:** Hello again! Gotta say once more that your user name is awesome. I'm glad you liked my chapter! I thought that Mai's true feelings would show if she had to face turning over her childhood love to her diabolical friend Azula. Hey—she did it once in the series for real! It's not too hard to believe she'd have done it before. But you're right—she's not my favorite character either. She's actually kind of irritating with all of her whining. That's probably why I always pair Zuko with Katara! LOL. Thanks for reviewing!

**Suicidal Butterfly:** Thank you for your kind, encouraging compliments! I'm glad you seem to like it so much! Thanks again! Meep! Meep?

**Lady Padfoot21:** Thanks very much for your kind review! I'm glad you liked the last chapter and I hope you liked this chapter as much as the last. Yes—Mai was pretty nice, but her niceness may have a price. I have a twist in mind! Oh—and I hope that you liked how Zuko figured out how to firebend again in this chapter! Thanks again for review!

**Misunderstood94:** Wooow. It's not every day I get a review like yours. Thank you so much! I'm glad you seem to enjoy my stories so much! I'm very flattered, and I'm very glad that I can give you the pleasure of reading. As a student on my way to becoming an English teacher, it's really an honor to learn that someone is enjoying the written word—especially if it's my own! I consider your compliment about my effort keeping everything original and in character the best, however, because it's something I really do strive to do well. Like I said once to another reviewer—I love Avatar so much that I can't consider trying change things—only improve and elaborate upon them. Of course, the Zutara-ness is the one exception! I thank you with a grateful heart for your kind-hearted, generous review and kind words! I really appreciate them! Thanks again!

**Saranha de Angelo: **Hey there! I'm glad you liked my last chapter, and I hope you liked this one as well! I'm pleased to hear you liked Mai's intervention. It's always good to hear that when you pull a kind of twist like I did. I'm glad you enjoyed how much action I had in there—and I'm also looking forward to how you react to the rest of the story. I'll give you a clue—it has to do with your comment about the Earth Kingdom soldiers intervening as well! Thanks a lot for your kind, kind compliments!

**Jazzy101: **You're speechless? Wow! Thank you so much; that's very flattering! I loved your "Holy Mother of Spirits!" bit. I'm glad you seemed to like my story, and don't worry about coming up with synonyms regarding what to call it—compliments like yours are all I need! Thank you so much!


	12. Practice Makes Perfect

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Avatar. *cries*

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**CHAPTER TWELVE**

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The next morning Katara woke up slowly. The first coherent thought that ran through her mind was that she was much warmer than she thought she should be sleeping in a cave. But the tired waterbender brushed the thought away and sighed heavily. She felt gently rocked in the darkness, and a low, rhythmic thundering in her ears helped to lull her back into a state of half-slumber. Suddenly she felt the warmth beneath her shift, and sigh in unison. The waterbender fluttered open her eyes.

Two orbs of fire gazed into hers. Zuko was awake, and he yawned and then smiled at her. Katara realized she'd actually been folded delicately into his lap; that she'd actually been resting her head on the firebender's chest. The gentle rocking feeling she'd been experiencing was actually the Zuko's breathing; the soft thundering sound had been his heartbeat. She sat up slowly, the previous night's events collecting slowly in her mind like water trickling into a warm pool.

Zuko sighed and yawned again. "Good morning," he greeted tiredly.

Katara was silent for a moment, but gazed at the firebender thoughtfully. He had been leaning up against the rocky, cold wall of the cave all night. That couldn't have been comfortable. She could see the pale blue circles under Zuko's eyes.

"Did you get any sleep last night?" she asked quietly, concerned.

Zuko's brow furrowed. "Not really, but I didn't intend to."

"What? Why?"

"I wanted to keep watch," Zuko explained briefly. "I think it fell asleep for a few hours though." Then, noticing Katara's worried expression, he added: "Don't worry, Katara. I'll be fine."

The firebender waited until Katara put some distance between them and then stood up. He looked towards the entrance of the cave, where bright, shimmering rays of sunlight were filtering through the mess of brambles and bushes that shielded them from the outside. Zuko sighed and turned towards Katara as she got up and dusted off her blue robes. The two benders eyed each other awkwardly.

"I'm beginning to think that traveling at night would have been safer than trying to move during the day," Zuko muttered. "We probably should have kept moving last night."

Katara's brow furrowed, and she looked away with no reply. Zuko was acting so distantly. Was he upset with her for some unknown reason? She couldn't think of anything she'd done wrong. Perhaps he was having second thoughts about last night…finally, the waterbender couldn't hold back her thoughts.

"Do you think last night was a mistake?!" she blurted suddenly, her wide eyes desperate for an honest answer.

Zuko raised his solitary eyebrow and stood up. The expression on his face wasn't grim, nor hopeful—it was difficult for Katara to read. The firebender reached forward hesitantly and gently grasped Katara's hands, and his eyes flashed towards hers.

"It wasn't a mistake," he whispered intensely. "And it wasn't an impulse either."

The Prince watched as an expression of relief washed over Katara's gentle face, and she smiled. "Good, I was afraid—"

"You don't have to be afraid," Zuko said, and he leaned forward and kissed her gently. Katara smiled against his lips and pressed herself against the firebender, but Zuko grasped her shoulders and held her back. He ended the kiss reluctantly, and then gazed back into the waterbender's azure eyes.

"Listen," he said slowly. "We can't waste time. Its daylight and Azula will be ten times more likely to find us out in the open. _That's_ why I said we should have kept moving at night, not because I regret what happened last night."

Katara's smile widened slightly, and then she nodded in agreement. "So…what should we do then? Stay here and wait until nightfall?"

"No. Even without that contraption Azula has been using she'll have found the resources to cover enough ground to find us by tonight. We should begin moving now."

"Do you think you can navigate us back to our camp?"

"Yes, but we'll have to cross the plains on foot without water. I don't know how far Azula took us, and you know how hot it's been getting during the day here."

Katara frowned and recalled the past few weeks when the temperatures on the plains had soared. The heat would be impossible to escape while she and Zuko were trying to outrun and outsmart Azula, and she didn't have her water skin or any other way of preserving water.

"We should go to the river," she suggested after some thought. "We can drink our fill there, and maybe soak some of our clothes in the river to keep us cool when we travel."

"That's a good idea."

The two benders emerged from the cave, with Zuko thoughtfully holding back the brambles and their grasping branches so Katara could pass. They crunched through the layer of dry sticks that Zuko had set down the night before and trudged together back towards the banks of the river. There, Zuko encouraged Katara to drink and dampen her clothing first while he kept watch. Glancing across the river's tumbling waters, he noted that there were no fresh footprints pressed into the muddy sand of the riverbank opposite them. No one had attempted to cross it yet, at least at this location.

Briefly, he wondered if Azula, Ty Lee, and Mai were even bothering looking for them. The earthbender attack last night had been sudden and the evidence it left suggested a violent encounter. Mai had been the only one he'd seen when he and Katara had escaped. Suddenly, a dark thought settled in his head, like a storm cloud showering rain.

_Could Azula and the others have been captured by the earthbenders who attacked them last night? _He thought with a strange mixed sense of dread and relief. _What if they were hurt, or worse?_

"Hey Zuko, it's your turn," he suddenly heard Katara say, and she approached him with her hands delicately wringing sparkling droplets of water from her thick hair. It took the Prince a moment to take in the sight of her, before he could choke out a response.

He swallowed away his speechlessness and nodded, stepping towards the glittering waters. "Will you keep watch?"

The waterbender nodded, smiling at him as she twisted her wild hair free of any heavy water. She meant to watch across the river for any threat, but she couldn't help her eyes from drifting towards Zuko as he knelt at the waters edge. She gazed as he cupped the water in his hands and splashed it onto his face, and then used one of his sleeves to wipe himself dry. He drank a few handfuls, then—sensing Katara's eyes on him—turned his head.

"What?" he asked, with a dash of curiosity and bafflement in his voice.

Katara blinked and then blushed. She hadn't meant to stare at him, and it was she who had trouble finding the words to reply. "I—um…I was just watching you," she admitted with a shy smile.

"You were gawking," the firebender replied, and Zuko splashed a few more droplets of water onto his clothing and then stood up. He smiled at the waterbender as he approached, and gently brushed his fingers against the hot pink stain that flooded her cheeks. Katara hoped that he might kiss her again, but instead the Prince's face creased into a troubled expression and he looked at her seriously.

"Katara, I have a question," he said uncertainly. "And you must promise to answer me honestly."

The girl raised and eyebrow. "Um…sure?"

"Well, it's actually more of a statement followed by a question," corrected the firebender with a nervous sigh.

"Mm hm?"

Zuko's eyes darted around anxiously for a few moments before he finally worked up the courage to tell her what he meant to say. "So…I think it's obvious by now that I think you're very beautiful."

"Was that the question?" Katara blinked in a state of half-shock, half-flattery.

"That was the statement."

The waterbender blushed a darker shade of red and stepped back bashfully, her hands instinctively flying up to shield her heated cheeks. "That's sweet, Zuko—but really, I'm not anything special."

Zuko shot her a stare chalk-full of skepticism. "Katara, you're kidding, right?"

"No, I'm not! I mean—I'm not ugly—but compared some other Water Tribe girls…"

Zuko rolled his eyes and grasped Katara's shoulders suddenly, interrupting her stammering trail of speech. "Katara, I've been all over the world, to every continent, and I've seen a _lot_ of girls. But not one of them compares to you."

"But…why me?"

Zuko inhaled and exhaled slowly, his fire-brimmed eyes cast towards the ground. "I don't think I can justify how I see you with words," he said hesitantly as Katara blushed furiously.

Finally, after the waterbender had willed away some of the blood rushing to her face, she looked up at the anxious-looking Prince once more. "So…what's your question?" she asked curiously. "And what does it have to do with that?"

"Well…you were just staring at me and I was just wondering if—if…" Zuko trailed off momentarily before finally spitting the words out. "…if you found me at all attractive. You know—physically and otherwise."

Katara smiled at the firebender. "Um…of course I do, Zuko. Why wouldn't you think that? I mean, when two people like each other—um—it takes a certain degree of physical attractiveness."

"Yeah, but what about…" his voice trailed off for the briefest of moments, "…my scar?" Zuko finished with a heavy sigh. He glanced towards Katara expectantly, with nervous eyes.

The waterbender's mouth opened slightly in realization, and she stared at Zuko—and his scar—for an awkward moment. Then her lips suddenly sparked back to life. "You know, Toph asked me the same thing."

"Toph? What does she know about it?"

"Quite a lot, actually. It sounds strange, but she can sense vibrations in the ground with her earthbending. It's extremely sensitive, and she could actually hear our hearts beating wildly whenever we were around each other at camp," confessed Katara. "She confronted me about my feelings for you—and that was just yesterday."

Zuko's eyes became wide and worried. "She knows about us?"

"Yes, but she hasn't told anyone. Don't worry, Zuko."

"Okay. So…what did you tell her—when she asked you if you thought I was attractive or not?"

Katara swallowed; her throat felt like sandpaper suddenly. "I told her that you were one of the handsomest men I've ever met," she admitted with a shy, shaky smile. She glanced up at the firebender and watched his response.

"Really?" Zuko asked softly, his eyes wide with surprise. One of his hands flew up and felt the roughened scar that covered the left side of his face. "It doesn't disgust you?"

"No! Your scar is a part of _you_—and I like you. _All_ of you."

"Really?"

"Yes, of course."

Zuko let out a long sigh of relief, and then shook his head disbelievingly, a small smile curving his lips upward. "I don't deserve you," he muttered quietly.

Katara shook her head and reached forward, tenderly brushing her fingertips against the surface of Zuko's face. Her hands passed over the Prince's scar, and he closed his eyes and sighed, leaning into her touch. Gently, the waterbender pressed her lips against his. When she pulled reluctantly away a moment later, she whispered softly.

"Yes you do," she said. "Everybody deserves the right to be happy; to find someone they care about."

Zuko smiled into her eyes, but then blinked. "Everybody, with the exception of some people. Like my father and Azula—because making them happy would involve the complete destruction of the rest of the world."

Katara thought about it for a moment, and then grinned. "Yeah, you've got a point."

The waterbender felt her smile crease across her cheeks. Her blush faded gently, but left a slight pinkish tint to her face. For a moment, the couple stood silently by the river, neither looking into each other's eyes, but still smiling. They listened to the gentle lapping of the waters near their feet, sucked in the sweet spring air, and listened to the soft, drifting song of the wind in the trees.

Finally, Zuko's thoughts circled around and led him back to reality. His sharp glance snapped towards the forest across the waters once more, and a stern, serious expression overwhelmed his smile. Katara sensed his change in mood and then glanced up.

"What is it?" the waterbender's face twisted into a frown, and her azure eyes also flashed back to the trees. "Are you worried?"

"Yes," Zuko replied automatically, and he looked back at the girl for a moment. Quickly he reached for one of her hands and clasped it tightly in his, pulling her away from the waters. "We should start moving."

Katara trotted beside the firebender as he quickened their pace, and they headed downstream, in the direction the river was flowing. "Why are we going downstream?" she asked as Zuko hastily tugged her along.

"If Azula finds us I want it to be in a place where we have the upmost advantage. In your case—that means being near water," Zuko explained, momentarily glancing back at her. "This river runs west anyway, and that's the way we need to be going."

"How do you know? I mean…we were blindfolded when they brought us here."

Zuko turned around momentarily and pointed towards the mountains that rose like stone giants in the distance. "You see the mountains? They're closer than they were before, and they face the east. So Azula must have taken us east of the campsite."

Katara nodded in comprehension. "Oh, okay," then she smiled again. "No wonder you were so good at tracking us down."

"Practice makes perfect," Zuko's mouth tugged up in a smile as well, and he took her hand in his and continued to lead her west, with the dividing rays of sunlight streaming behind them.

* * *

**Here's my story (and my excuse for another late posting):**

OMFG I'm so sorry my readers! I never in my life imagined the stuff that could happen to me and my life, but I've had a hell of a couple of months. Just to put it in perspective for you (and I'm only telling everyone this because I do feel really bad about not updating), all three of my remaining grandparents are dying. One was just told she has cancer, one has been to the hospital 16 times in the last two months for hardening of the lungs, and my last one was just told that she has 6 months to live before her kidneys shut down. Also, my 17 year old sister got in BIG trouble with the law. I can't explicitly tell you what she did, but worst case scenario is she goes to jail for 40 years and has her name put on sex offender lists for the rest of her life. On top of that, I just found out that BOTH of my top choices for student teaching won't accept me because I didn't pass a stupid, irrelevant 35-minute online aptitude test. So now I don't know where I'm going to go to complete my teaching degree.

Thankfully, my fiancé is being the ABSOLUTE BEST in the entire world. He is so supportive and wonderful, and right now he's the only consistent thing in my life. If I didn't have him and his support I swear I'd go insane, if I haven't gone nuts already.

Anyway, those are my excuses for not updating. I've had to deal with a lot of sh*t the last couple of months, all while working two jobs, planning my wedding, and going to school full time. Soo busy. And I don't mean to whine or complain, but I feel I owed you guys an explanation, and at least this time it's a good explanation.

Honestly I don't know how this is going to progress, so I can't promise that I'll update soon. Sorry. I do keep my Avatar fanfiction close to my heart, and I'm continuing to write. I have much less time than usual and aren't really in the mindset to write most of the time due to all that's been happening, but I'll try for you guys.

Thank you to my supportive, wonderful, consistent reviewers. You are one of the few spots of brightness in my life right now. I really love getting to know you over the course of my stories!

So, due to this chapter's complete and utter late-ness I didn't have time to complete my reader responses. I hope you'll all forgive me! I really like replying to your reviews but when you get 20+ reviews for each chapter replying to each and every one gets tedious and delays the chapter being posted.

Thank you for understanding.

**Roseblade 22**


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